Sacrifice
by OUATlover2000
Summary: Summary: Based off 6x17; Awake. David goes through the door and had a chance to raise Emma to become the savior. Snow made a sacrifice and stayed behind, to fool Regina into thinking that the curse was still very much intact. DaddyCharming! Eventual Snowing and Charming Family Feels. Pinocchio wasn't sent through with Emma. The wardrobe only took one.
1. Chapter 1

_Summary: Based off 6x17; Awake. David goes through the door and had a chance to raise Emma to become the savior. Snow made a sacrifice and stayed behind, to fool Regina into thinking that the curse was still very much intact. DaddyCharming! Eventual Snowing and Charming Family Feels._

 **Chapter 1**

Mary Margaret had just thrown away the flowers that she'd just destroyed by bumping into the mayor, when she saw a beautiful flower growing. She picked it from the ground and made her way to the hospital to see John Doe.

"Sorry I'm late." She told the man in a coma. "I almost didn't come. Then I saw this and something in me told me I had to bring it to you." She sat the single flower in a vase on his bedside table.

She turned around to walk away and didn't see the flower working it's magic. Purple dust began to come out of the flower and onto John Doe's hand, causing his monitors to start beeping.

"Oh no." She walked back over to him. "What's happening? What've I done?"

Just then John Doe's eyes snapped open. Mary Margaret was grinning like a cheshire cat. "Snow." He breathed out.

"Snow." She repeated, then shook her head. "Oh… no. I don't under-"

He shot up in the bed, startling Mary Margaret. "Where is she?" He asked suddenly, then started unhooking all the wires attached to him. He woke up with common knowledge of this land.

"N-n-no. Oh…"

He stood up. "Where's the Evil Queen?"

"Oh! No, no, n-no. You're confused. You've been in a coma." She tried reasoning with him to stop him as he tried leaving. "I'm gonna go get a doctor."

He stopped her. "You're Snow White. I know somewhere inside you, you know that. You can trust me."

"You're confused and you are speaking gibberish. Why should I trust you."

He smiled and held his hand out for her to grab. "Because I love you and you love me." She reluctantly took his hand, then the purple dust reached her and all her memories came back.

She gasped. "We have to see Rumplestiltskin."

XXX

They snuck out of the hospital and after Snow checked on the search party, the couple made their way to see Rumpelstiltskin at Mr Gold's shop. Once David said the name Emma, it broke Rumple's curse.

Snow and David met at an abandoned building, but Snow was late. "I was worried." David said when she arrived, then they kissed.

"We have to hurry. Regina's on to us."

David nodded. "Did you bring it?" Snow pulled the flower- that was later identified as a pixie flower- out of her pocket. He grabbed the flower and held it in his hand. "It's magic should be strong enough to lead us to Emma."

Snow smiled. "Let's go find our daughter."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." Rumple said, walking into the room. "She's only just turned 10 today, she isn't destined to be the savior for 18 more years."

"She doesn't need to be the savior anymore. We're awake." Snow insisted.

Rumple shook his head. "Snow White and Prince Charming are awake, but what about everybody else? If you guys leave, Regina will be prepared to fight you, with everything she's got."

"What do you expect us to do?" David asked angrily.

He pulled a potion out of his pocket. "Drink this. It'll put you back under. When the time's right, Emma will come for you."

"You can't stop us. You don't have magic in this world. Here you're just a man." David stormed off and waited for Snow in the hall.

Rumple gave the potion to Snow. "What if I stay here. Only David goes. He could prepare her to become the savior. If both of us disappear she'll know, but if David is the only one, she'll assume he died. It gives my daughter an actual fighting chance."

"It may work. Is that a sacrifice you're willing to make? Giving your husband a chance to raise your daughter, even though you can't. Are you willing to sacrifice the chance to raise your daughter?"

Snow stepped closer to him. "I will sacrifice _anything_ for my daughter." And with that, she met David in the hall and they left.

"Where should we do it?" Charming asked his wife, on their way outside.

Snow smiled weakly. "The Toll Bridge. They've already searched there. They have no reason to search there twice."

David couldn't help but smile. "The _Toll_ Bridge? As in this lands version of The Troll Bridge?" Snow wanted to smile but couldn't bring herself to do so.

They finally reached The Toll Bridge. "Here we are." Snow sprinkled some pixie dust from the flower into the palm of her hand. "How exactly does this work?"

"I don't know. Just… think about Emma and let the magic do the rest." He said, giving her a supporting nod. Snow obliged, then threw the dust up. They closed their eyes and when they opened them, there was a door in front of them. David opened the door and they saw a beautiful little girl sitting on a bed, reading. "Oh, she's beautiful." He breathed out.

He was just about to walk in when Snow stopped him. "Wait."

"What? What's wrong?" David asked.

She was crying. "I can't go through there."

"Snow. We have to."

She shook her head. "If I go through that door, Regina will be prepared. She will know. She'll be ready for us. You have to go through, just you David."

"What? No. You can't listen to Rumple."

She sighed. "He's right Charming. I love you _so_ much. I love our little girl too. You need to protect her, for the both of us. You need to do this. For our girl, our Emma." They kissed passionately. "This isn't goodbye."

"We'll find you Snow." Snow nodded. "Would you think I'm crazy if I suggested we take a picture together for you to take with you?" She asked, pulling a polaroid out of her purse. He couldn't help but laugh. "What?"

"You just carry polaroid cameras in your purse?" She rolled her eyes. "Let's take this picture." He held the camera out and took a few pictures. One of them smiling, another of her kissing his cheek, and the last one of them kissing one another. Okay, the last one was for him to keep.

She smiled lovingly at her husband, then got back to reality. "Remember, you have to get a job and a house before they'll let you take her." She pulled some money out of her purse. "You'll need this."

"I know. I love you." He said, his own tears streaming down his face. .

She looked into her husband's eyes. "You can't try to find Storybrooke early. She won't be able to break the curse if you do."

He kissed her again, and reluctantly said, "I promise." Then he walked through the door. Snow shut the door behind him, then drank the potion, putting her back to sleep, back under the curse.

XXX

Emma Swan was sitting on her bed reading when she thought she heard noises coming from her closet. She looked over just in time to see a man come out of the wall in the closet, her jaw dropped and her eye went wide.

When he saw her, he just smiled at her. Her jaw was still dropped and her eyes were still wide. She blinked a few times trying to process how a man just walked through a wall. "Hello Emma."

He just walked through a wall and he knows her name. That's a lot. "How…?" She tilted her head in confusion. "How did you..." she pointed to the closet. "How do you know my name?"

He gave her such a gentle smile. "Mind if I sit?" He asked, pointing to an empty spot on the bed.

She merely nodded. "You're crying." She stated and reached up to wipe his tears away.

"I was separated from my wife… but it was worth it, to find you." He explained.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Who are you… how did you come through there?"

"It's sort of a long story. I can start by telling that my name's David and… I'm your father."

She looked into his eyes and saw nothing but honesty, she looked back down at her book. "You left me… all alone. Why?"

"To protect you. We were in a dangerous situation, my wife's, your mother's- step-mother threatened us and you. We sent you away to protect you Emma. I promise. We didn't want to. It was the hardest thing we've ever had to do."

Still, straight honesty. "I believe you." She sighed. "What happens to me now? Do I go with you?"

"I'm afraid not. Not yet at least." He saw the slight disappointment in her eyes. "I won't be allowed to until I get a job and a house." She nodded understandingly. "I promise I'll be back though. I can walk you to and from school everyday. I promise, you'll see me often."

"Okay." She looked at the time. "You have to leave soon. Taylor and Rebecca will be in soo for bed. I share a room." She walked over to the window and opened it. "You can go out this way. No one pays attention, so no one will see you."

He got off the bed and went over to where Emma was standing and crouched down so they were eye-level. "Before I go, I want you to know that I love you."

She furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head in confusion. "You barely know me."

He chuckled. "I've loved you since the moment I found out she was pregnant." He informed her. "What time should I be here to walk you to school in the morning."

"Meet me at that corner," she pointed to a corner down the road, "at 8:15."

He smiled and before she had a chance to react, he pulled her into a hug. She slowly returned it. "I'll be there." He broke the hug, then started climbing out of the window. "I'll see you in the morning Emma."

He climbed out of the window and started walking, until he spotted a motel, he paid to stay there for about a week and still had enough money for food and a little extra.

 _ **Please Review...**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Emma woke up a 7:30 the next morning and began getting ready, she got ready quickly in hopes to see David soon. She was ready earlier than usual, just in time to see David arriving almost 30 minutes early.

She smiled and left the house early. "Hi David." She said, with her book bag sitting neatly on her shoulders. "You're early."

He mirrored her smile. "I didn't want to risk being late." He told her, then he thought for a moment. "Er… do you know where your school is located?" He asked, scratching nervously behind his ear.

She nodded, giggling. "You go straight until you see the old brick building, then you turn…" She held up her hands, shaping them both like L's to determine which was left and which was right. "Right. Then when you see the small church, you go the other way and then you go straight until you see the school."

He smiled at her. "Then let's be on our way. Do you wanna stop and getting something to eat before school, so we're not so early? Like a donut or something?" Emma nodded and when they sat down to eat their donuts, David turned to Emma. "So, you must have lots of questions."

She nodded. "Are you magic?" She tilted her head to the side. "I saw you walk through a wall. Ooh! Or maybe, you're a ghost. Are you a ghost?"

He chuckled. "I'm afraid it's a no on both. I used magic to find you, but I do not have magic." She still looked rather confused. "There's something called a pixie flower, it's made of-"

"-pixie dust!" She finished. "You found me with fairy magic! That's _so_ cool!" It was quiet for a minute or two. "What can you tell me anything about my mom? What's she like? What does she look like?" She finally asked.

He smiled and took three photos out of his pocket. "We took these pictures just before I came here, to New York." She was admiring the pictures. "She's wonderful Emma. It killed her that she couldn't come with me. But she had to sacrifice a life with you, to protect you from her step-mother."

She sighed. "I don't like her step-mom." She sighed. "Will we ever see her again?"

"Absolutely. It might not be for a long time, but you _will_ see her again. I can promise you that."

That brought a smile to her face. "We better go now. School starts at 8:30."

"I want you to keep these two. It might be a while until we see her again, so keep them, forever and ever."

After dropping Emma off at Saratoga Springs Elementary School, David went job searching. He didn't have much, except his curse memories came to him late last night, so he knows all necessary and basic information about himself. Apparently Regina wanted to make him a cop, because she gave him a degree in criminal justice. He decided to go to the Saratoga Springs Police Department.

He walked inside and things seemed slightly hectic, there were only a few people there. "Sir, can I help you?" A man in a uniform asked him.

"Uh, Hello. Is there any way I can speak to the Captain? Or do I make an appointment? I'm new here and-"

"Don't worry about it." He shrugged it off. "His office is just over there." He pointed across the room.

David nodded. "Thank you officer." David made his way over to the other side of the room and knocked on the door.

"Come in." He heard a gruff voice say.

David entered the room and smiled politely at the captain. "Hello sir. My name's David Nolan. I'm new to the city, well to the state really. Um, a few days ago I left a small town and came here. I was in an accident, so my memories are a little fuzzy, so forgive me if some of what I say doesn't make much sense. I know that I have a degree in criminal justice."

"You want a job?"

David nodded. "Yes sir. If you can-"

"This is great! Things have been hectic since a group of our officers- they're brothers- moved away. I normally wouldn't do this so quickly, but we're low on man power. You'll have to work your way up the food chain, but fill this out and you just might find yourself a job! Do you have any questions?"

David smiled. "Uh… yeah. At the moment, I'm trying to get custody of my daughter, I mean… I won't be able to until I have a stable home, of course. Will that be a problem?"

"No, no, no. Don't you worry son. You're starting at a low risk job anyways, just answering phones for now. So, don't you worry. Just fill out this application."

David nodded. That was easier than he expected it to be. He supposes this is what it's like when you don't have an Evil Queen shaped road block everytime you need something. "Thank you."

"You can fill it out in the box if you wanna make this quick." He suggested. David nodded, liking the idea of making it quick. The captain showed him the way to the 'box' otherwise known as an interrogation room and David filled out the app.

Once David finished, he made his way back to the captain's office after being invited in he handed the application over. "All done sir." David said. "I don't have a personal phone yet, so I just gave you the number to a direct line to my motel room that I'm staying in for now."

"Alright son. I'll give you a call and let you know tonight or first thing tomorrow morning."

A few hours later, David was standing outside Emma's school waiting to walk her back to her current foster home, but what he saw both broke his heart and make his blood boil.

XXX

All day at school, Emma was telling people that she found her real dad, but no one believed her. They have been calling her names all day, she just wanted to leave.

The last bell had finally rung and Emma practically ran out of the doors, but she was stopped my some of the fifth graders- that had overheard her talking to her friends about her father- just after she left.

The fifth grader that stopped her- Jess- grabbed her arm and spun Emma around. "Well, well, well. If it isn't little orphan Annie."

Emma yanked her arm back. "That's not my name! Leave me alone!"

"Are you really gonna keep lying to everyone? Telling them that you found your dad. No one believes you, everyone knows you just want them to like you."

She gritted her teeth together. "That's not true! You're just being mean."

Jess and her friends all started laughing, then pushing Emma back and forth between them. "Orphan, orphan, orphan." The older kids just kept repeating, whilst laughing at a crying Emma.

David saw what was going on so he came over. "Ahem." He cleared his throat. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked the older girls. They all just stayed quiet, looking at the ground. "Are you alright Emma?"

She nodded. "I'm fine." She said wiping her tears away.

"I think you girls need to apologize to Emma."

The girls looked at him as if he were crazy, then they all just sighed. "Sorry Emma." They muttered.

David turned to Emma. "Ready for that walk home?" Emma merely nodded and took his hand. After a few minutes of walking David said, "I may have found a job."

Emma smiled at him. "Really? Where?"

"Answering phones at the police station, for now. They seem like they really need the help. It's not definite yet, but I'm hopeful."

Emma sighed. "How long until I can come stay with you? I don't like living in the foster home."

"I'm not sure yet kiddo. I still need to find an affordable house or a 2-room apartment at least. I'm not sure how long that'll take. I have to take care of quite a few things, but I'm hoping that since I have a job now, I can talk to your social worker into letting me spend some time with you. On a sort of schedule."

Emma stopped and pulled a pen and paper out of her bag, then pulled a card out of her pocket and wrote something down. "Here." She handed him the paper. "This is Kelly's number. She's my social worker."

"Well, thank you very much Emma." They reached the foster home Emma was staying at she sighed. "I guess this is where we part." How bowed ever-so dramatically, causing Emma to giggle. "Until next time, princess Emma." She looked up at him smiling. "I'm sorry you had a bad day at school kiddo." He ruffled her hair. "I'll see you tomorrow morning." She unexpectedly hugged him and he returned it with a smile.

XXX

David was sitting in his motel room looking online at apartments- he found one that he might be able to afford in a few weeks time- when the phone rang. " _Hello?"_

" _David Nolan?"_

" _Uh… that's me."_

" _This is captain Rogers with the Saratoga Springs PD. We met earlier today."_

 _David perked up. "Yes! I remember sir."_

" _Any chance you can start Monday morning. 9 am sharp. Your shift ends at 5."_

 _David's grin was wide as a cheshire cat. "Absolutely! Uh, is there a chance I could leave at 3 everyday to pick my daughter up from school?" He questioned._

" _Not a problem son. See you tomorrow. Goodbye."_

David ended the call. "Yes!" He shouted, he was ecstatic, he only wished that his Snow could be here with him. He wanted to tell Emma right away, but there was no way, not until tomorrow.

XXX

Before picking Emma up from school, David went to the store and bought a few walkie-talkies, so he and his daughter could have a way to talk, even when they aren't together.

"Hey David!"

He smiled at his daughter walking up to him. "Hey there kiddo. How was school?" She just shrugged. "I've got something for you."

She perked up. "Really? What is it?"

He pulled the walkie-talkies out of his pocket. "One for you, one for me. So, we can talk. Whenever you want. I'll always answer if I can." He promised.

"Thanks! We can talk at night too, right? Not just day?"

He nodded. "Whenever you want." She smiled. "So, I'm gonna call Kelly later today and set up a meeting."

He saw Emma's smile brighten even more, at least until they got to her foster home. "It's Friday." She sighed. "Does that mean I won't see you until Monday?"

"Not sure kiddo, but we can talk all you want with our walkies." He promised her.

XXX

He had a meeting set up for Sunday afternoon with Emma's social worker Kelly Leathe.

XXX

"I can make a few calls Mr Nolan, I can make my recommendations. Judging by the fact that you're living in a motel, she obviously can't start staying with you."

He nodded. "In a few weeks, I should have enough money saved up for a 2-bedroom apartment at The Springs." He informed her. "I know she can't live with me right away. I thought maybe after I get my apartment and get my license renewed, we could move onto that step." The social worker nodded, listening to what he was saying. "But, I was hoping that maybe I could spend time with her during the day, on a schedule. Like after I get off work, I could pick her up and I'll have her back at a certain time." He continued. "Is something like that… possible?"

She nodded. "Yes. Birth parents do this often. As I said before, I can send the state my recommendation, but it's up to them. Honestly, with how hard you're trying, I don't see why you would have a problem. You'll have a definite answer by Tuesday. I think it's important that she gets to know you."

They were just ending their meeting, when they heard Emma's voice over the walkie-talkie. "David? How did it go? What'd Kelly say?"

They both chuckled, David got up and put his jacket on, the grabbed the walkie out of his pocket as he was leaving. "She thinks I have a good shot Emma."

 _ **Please Review...**_


	3. Chapter 3

**To: Ronda180 ~ They're going to move to Boston next chapter.**

 **Chapter 3**

It was David's first day of work, he was a little nervous, but not much. Emma told him he'd be great on her way to school and it immediately calmed David's nerves. He walked into the building and was greeted by the captain. "Good morning sir."

Captain Rogers handed David a uniform. "Congratulations officer Nolan."

"I thought I wasn't an officer yet?"

The captain chuckled. "You're still an officer son. You're just starting at a desk. It's where all of our officers start, at least until they go to the academy. Don't worry we have a non-residential academy, in case you wanna do that sometime in the future." He informed him. "Locker room is down the hall and to the left." He handed David a small sheet of paper. "Your locker information. Number, combination, etc."

"Thank you captain." And with that, David went to the locker room and changed into his uniform. Inside his locker, he found a name tag with his last name on it, he pinned it to the appropriate location on his uniform, then he made his way out to his desk. He got his first call after only a few minutes. "Saratoga Springs Police Department, what can I do for you?"

XXX

David was laying in bed, nearly asleep at 11:30 on Monday night, when he heard Emma talking over the walkie. "David? Are you awake?"

He reached over. "Yeah kiddo. What's up? Why are you up so late? Don't you have sleeping roommates?"

"I can't sleep. They're in middle school, they said middle schoolers don't go to sleep until midnight."

He chuckled. "Want me to tell you a story?" He asked.

He could practically hear her grinning. "Really? That's be awesome. I love stories."

"Once upon a time there was a princess bandit by the name of Snow, who was on the run from her evil stepmother, otherwise known as the Evil Queen." He started. "The bandit mistaked Prince James' carriage for the Evil Queen's, her original plan was to steal from the queen, but it didn't quite work out that way. The bandit distracted the prince and stole a satchel out of the carriage causing the princes fiance to scream. When the prince heard the scream, he saw a bandit running, so he- of course- chased her, but this prince was unaware that the bandit was a woman. He eventually caught up to her and tackled her to the ground, it's safe to say that he was surprised. "You're a girl." He stated, shocked. The bandit smiled. "Woman." She corrected then reached for a rock and hit the prince in the face, leaving him with a scar."

Emma gasped, then yawned. "Why'd she hit him? To get away?"

"Mhm" He answered. "Then the bandit hopped on a horse and took off. When the prince got up, it was too late to chase after her. "I will find you!" He called after her. "I will always find you!" To be continued."

"What? Why?"

He chuckled. "I can hear you yawning Emma. Go to sleep."

"Goodnight David."

He smiled. "Goodnight Emma. I'll see you in the morning. Maybe tomorrow, we can continue the story."

XXX

David got a phone call from Kelly after work on Tuesday evening, saying that he had been granted legal visitation rights with Emma. He can be with her from 5:30pm to 8pm every day. Weekends included.

He immediately called Emma over their walkies. "Emma? Emma, come in, come in."

"Hi David!"

He smiled. "I just got a call from Kelly. Guess what she said."

"What?"

"I was granted visitation right with you everyday. Do you know what that means?"

Emma thought for a moment and then the thought came to her and she gasped. "We get to see each other every day?" She asked. "Kelly said yes?"

"That she did. We can hang out with each other everyday from 5:30 to 8:00."

Emma smiled brightly. "That's awesome!" He heard voices in the background. "I have to go David. It's time to eat. Bye."

XXX

Wednesday after David got off work he walked to Emma's foster home to pick her up for his first official visitation. He knocked on the door and an older blonde man answered the door. "Ah. You must be Emma's father." He said cooly. "I'm Mr Peterson. She will be out in a moment, you wait here." He shut the door and went back in the house.

He waited patiently until Emma's hand was in his. "Hi David."

"Hey kiddo."

The foster father rolled his eyes. "I don't want her here late. At or before 8, she needs to be here. Got it?"

"Yes sir." David answered. The man shut the door and they began walking away. "He's a big ball of sunshine, isn't he?" He joked and Emma giggled. "Wanna grab a bite to eat?"

XXX

Things have been going great over the past week, spending a few hours with Emma everyday made it even better. It's Saturday morning, so David doesn't have work today and he doesn't see Emma until later today. He decided it would be a great day to renew his license.

The license renewal went great, he finished at around 2pm, he figured it couldn't hurt to look at potential cars. He went to a used car lot in the city, knowing that it would be less expensive than buying a new car altogether. He saw a pickup truck that didn't cost too much, it was right in his price range actually. He had gotten a card from the bank a few days before and he had more than enough on said card to buy the truck on the spot.

Two more weeks and he will have enough money saved up for that apartment. Two weeks and he moves a step closer to living with his daughter.

XXX

It's been about two weeks and David almost has enough for that apartment, he gets his paycheck today, then he can make the payment on the apartment.

XXX

Emma was at the foster home and it's bad today. She's managed to keep how bad it is a secret from her father, but Mr Peterson is drunk and he's angry.

"Emma, just hide. He'll eventually pass out and sleep it off." The oldest foster sister- Taylor- said, then hid in her spot behind the closet.

Emma nodded, but didn't know where to hide, so she just decided to climb out of the window and camp out on the fire escape. It's cold out, but she was too scared to go back in and get a blanket, so she just sat there. Everyone unintentionally fell asleep in their hiding spots, which meant Emma slept in 40* weather.

The next morning when Taylor and Rebecca woke up, Taylor noticed Emma was nowhere in sight. "Becks have you seen Emma?" The 7th grader merely shrugged and Taylor rolled her eyes and began looking for Emma. It took her a few minutes, but she noticed that the window was cracked open. "She didn't."

"What?" Rebecca asked, turning over to Taylor, then saw her walking towards the window. Taylor opened it and sighed at the shivering, sleeping 4th grader. "Crap." Rebecca muttered.

Taylor climbed out the window. "Emma. Emma wake up." She shook her and saw Emma's eyes flutter open. "Did you sleep out here?" Emma blinked a few times waking herself up, then nodded. "Come on, let's get you under some blankets and you can sleep until we have to leave. I'll wake you at 7:30." She nodded and obliged, climbing under the covers on her bed.

The next thing she knew, Taylor was waking her up. "Already?" Emma asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "I hate waking up."

"We have to go Em. Don't fall back asleep." She told her. "Bye."

XXX

Halfway into the school day, Emma got sick, 3 different times. The nurse kept trying to call her foster father, but wasn't answering the phone.

The nurse sighed and went into the back room where Emma was sleeping and woke her up. "Emma? Wake up." Her eyes fluttered open, much like they did this morning. "Is there someone else we can call?"

Emma nodded. "My dad."

"He isn't answering the phone. "

She shook her head. "No. My real dad. His name's David Nolan. He works with the police. He answers phones." The nurse nodded and went in the other room to make the call.

XXX

David was sitting at his desk and he answered the phone. " _Saratoga Springs Police Department. What can I do for you?"_

" _Hello. Can I be forwarded to a David Nolan?"_

 _David raised an eyebrow. "This is him. What can I do for you ma'am?"_

" _Oh. I'm the nurse at Saratoga Springs Elementary School. I'm calling in regards to your daughter."_

 _That got his attention. "Emma? Is she okay?"_

" _It appears she's come down with something and we can't seem to get a hold of her foster father."_

 _David nodded, even though the nurse couldn't see him. "Alright. I'll be there as soon as I can." He hung up._

He made his way over to his captains office and knocked. "Come in."

David entered and shut the door behind him. "Captain Rogers. I'm sorry about this, but is there any way that I can head out early today? Emma's sick and the school can't get a hold of her foster father. I-"

"It's fine Nolan." He pulled the paycheck out of his desk drawer. "Here's your paycheck. I know you get that new apartment today. Good luck with Emma."

David smiled and took the paycheck. "Thank you sir." And with that David was gone, he didn't even change out of his uniform. He went outside and got in his truck. He arrived at the school not ten minutes later and was directed to the nurse's office. "Uh… hello?"

The nurse looked up from the desk. "Mr. Nolan?" She asked. He nodded and she pulled out a clipboard and paper. "Sign this." He obliged. "She's just in the back room sleeping. You can go wake her and take her home."

"Thank you." He made his way back and saw Emma sleeping, he didn't want to wake her, but he had to, he walked over and gently shook her awake. "Emma?" She opened her eyes and smiled weakly, he gladly returned the smile.

"You're wearing your policeman uniform." She stated.

He looked down at his clothes. "Hm. Guess I am." He looked back up at his daughter. "Ready to go?" She nodded and he helped her up, but her legs were pretty wobbly. "Here, just lean on me, alright."

"Okay." She whispered.

He lead her outside and when they got outside of the truck, he had to lift her up, so she could get in, because she was half asleep. Within seconds of driving, Emma was asleep again.

When they got to The Springs, there was a couch inside the waiting room for her to rest on while he paid the guy the rent and safety deposit.

"It's a luxury apartment, so you have appliances and furniture. Everything's been cleaned. Office hours are from 9-5." He handed him the key. "Here you go."

XXX

When he got situated in the apartment and Emma was sleeping on the her bed, he decided to give Kelly a call.

" _Kelly Leathe." She answered._

 _He coughed. "Uh, hello Miss Leathe. It's David Nolan. I was calling to let you know that Emma's school called me to let me know that she was sick and they couldn't get a hold of Mr Peterson and asked if I could pick her up, so I did. She's asleep on the couch at my apartment."_

" _Thank you for calling me Mr Nolan. When did you get the new apartment?"_

 _He chuckled. "Just now actually."_

" _Well, I'll see what's keeping Mr Peterson and get back to you." She ended the call._

Next he decided to order in, he ordered Emma broth and juice. There was already water in the fridge, so he didn't need to order that too.

XXX

When Kelly went to check on Emma's foster father he was obviously hungover. After questioning Rebecca and Taylor, she learned about what happened last night and why Emma got sick, Mr Peterson had his foster license revoked.

It's safe to say the David was infuriated when he found out that his daughter had been living with an alcoholic and no one knew.

Kelly told David that Emma could stay with him until the judge came back with a decision.

XXX

After a few hours of sleep, David decided that it was time to wake Emma up for dinner. It wasn't a very easy task.

"Where are we?" She asked after a few minutes of being awake.

He smiled. "This is my new apartment. Hopefully, one day soon, it can be yours too."

"Why'd you wake me up?"

He chuckled. "Because, Miss Emma, you need to eat." She made a face. "I know. Eating when your sick is no fun, especially when you can't keep it down. But you have to eat."

"This sucks." She grumbled at the bowl of broth in front of her.

After a few minutes of eating, David decided it was time to bring it up. "Emma. I want you to know that you can tell me anything."

She had a feeling she knew where this was going.

"Kelly went to see Mr Peterson, then she talked to Rebecca and Taylor. They told her what happened."  
Emma sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"That's okay Emma. But I do have some good news for you." He started.

Oh no. She was getting that feeling in her stomach again. She can't throw up now. She clamped her hand over her mouth.

"Emma? What's-? You have to throw up." He realized and she nodded. "Okay, bathroom's this way." He helped her up and lead her to the bathroom. When she threw up, he held her hair back and rubbed her back. "There you go." By the time she was finished vomiting, she was crying. "Hey. What's wrong?"

"I hate being sick." She hiccupped. "And my tummy hurts a lot."

He grabbed her hand and helped her up. "Come on. Let's see if I can find you some ginger ale or something, then you could go back to sleep." He directed Emma to the couch. "I'll be right back." He went into the kitchen and a few seconds later heard an, "aha!" He came back in the living room. "They supplied us with ginger ale. Can you believe that? I thought we might of had to go to the grocery store, or maybe call a buddy from work or something." He admitted, while pouring Emma a glass. "Here you go kiddo."

XXX

A few days later, David was granted emergency temporary legal guardianship of Emma. "This is just a sort of trial run Mr Nolan." Kelly had told him. "Please don't screw this up."

XXX

David was finally granted full legal custody of Emma after months of being her temporary guardian. Now it was just him and Emma, no social workers, just him and his daughter.

He's had full custody of her for about 2 months now. He decided it was time to tell her the whole truth about who she is. The savior.

"Hey kiddo. I need to talk to you about something." He said. Emma closed her book and set it on her bedside table. "It's about your mother and I… and you. About where we're from."

"... okay."

He sighed. "It's going to sound insane princess, but I promise, everything I say is true."

Emma nodded. "David. I know magic is real. What's more insane than that?"

He smiled weakly. "That fairytales are real too." She raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Told you. Sounds insane." Emma nodded. "Your mother and I, we're from the Enchanted Forest."

Emma was confused, she was looking into his eyes and he was telling the truth.

"Your mother is… Snow White and I'm-"

Emma's eyes were wide. "-prince Charming." She finished. "I'm the daughter of Snow White and prince Charming?"

"Yeah… you were born there too. You know all those bedtime stories I used to tell you on our walkies and then the ones I told you while you've been living here?" He asked.

"Those are your stories and my mom's stories?"

He nodded. "And yours too. Remember how I told you about the cursed town in the story? It's real too."

"Then we have to help them!" She insisted. "We have to! We have to save them from Regina!"

He sighed. "The curse won't break for another 18 years kiddo. Do you know who the savior is?" Emma shrugged, looking upset. "I know it's a lot to take in and you wanna meet your mom. It's hard. I know."

"Who's the savior?"

He smiled. "She goes by the name of princess Emma." He said with a smirk.

"I'm the savior?" He nodded. "I get to save everyone? I get to be a hero? Like you and my mom?" He nodded again. "I wish we didn't have to wait until I was old."

David laughed. "28 is not old." Emma nodded, silently telling him he was wrong. He feigned hurt. "Are you calling me old?"

"Yup!"

He couldn't help but laugh. "Whatever you say kiddo. Time for bed."

 _ **Please Review...**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Almost 2 years later, David and Emma moved to Boston. He had gone to the police academy in Saratoga, but by that time, there were no open spots for him to take. His captain had told him that there was an opening at the Boston department, in district A-7 and gave him a recommendation.

They've lived in Boston for about 5 years now. David was recently promoted to lieutenant of his precinct. Emma just turned 17 a few weeks ago and she's been going through a sort of rebellious stage and it's driving David mad.

Emma skipped school and decided to do something that her dad would kill her if he found out about it. She stole a car, a nice yellow bug that she absolutely loves. _I mean, he won't kill me if he doesn't find out about it,_ she thought.

Once she got in the car, she stuck a screwdriver in the ignition and started driving. She was driving down the street when she heard, "Impressive. But you could've just asked for the keys." She nearly jumped out of her skin. Her eyes were wide, she was pretty freaked out. "IJust drive." He waved it off. "It's fine."

"I just stole your car! Your life could be in danger." She pointed out.

He smiled. "Neal Cassidy."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Yeah. I'm not telling you my name."

"I don't need it to have you arrested when the robbery is in progress." He said laughing.

She rolled her eyes again. "Emma… Nolan." He nodded. "So, do you just… live in here? Or are you just waiting for the car to be stolen."

"Why don't I tell you over drinks?"

Emma turned around. "Excuse me?"

He smiled, then noticed she passed a stop sign. "Hey! Eyes on the road."

She sighed. "I am not having drink with you. You could be a pervert."

He nodded. "I might be pervert. But you're _definitely_ a car thief."

"I said I was sorry!"

He smiled. "Actually, you didn't."

She was about to respond when she heard sirens behind her. "Crap, crap, crap. Dammit."

He groaned. "That's why I said eyes on the road. It's fine, just pull over." She obliged and he climbed up front. "Screwdriver." She pulled it out and he replaced it with the keys. She was panicking, like really panicking. Her dad was going to kill her. Literally kill her.

She was staring at Neal when the cop came over. "License and registration." The police officer said, Emma still wouldn't make eye contact. "Ma'am. I'm talking to you."

She slowly turned her head and looked at the officer with a grimace. "Hi officer Bowman."

"Emma, does your father know you're here? Do you even have your license yet? And who's this?"

She nodded. "Of course dad knows I'm here." Lie. "I don't have my license yet, but my friend Neal is teaching me to drive." Another lie, well… a half lie.

"On a main road?" He questioned. Emma nervously nodded. "Yeah… okay." He pulled his radio out and called for David. "Stay here. I'll be back."

Emma groaned. "Your dad's a lieutenant?" She sheepishly nodded. "Oh my God." He sighed.

She was biting on her nail. "I'm so freaking dead. He's gonna kill me. Especially when he finds out the car's stolen."

"Don't worry about that part. I only stole it because it was abandoned." He told her.

Emma's eyes were wide. "I stole a stolen car?"

He ignored her. "As for the other part…you're screwed." She glared at him. "So… about that drink?"

She sighed. "Fine. One drink. When? Where?"

He smiled triumphantly. "Saturday night. 9 o'clock. Meet me at the old fair."

"Make it 11." He raised an eyebrow. "My dad won't let me go. I'll have to sneak out. Comprende?"

He chuckled. "Sounds like a date."

A few minutes later, David showed up. "Emma Ruth!"

She looked up at him with a grimace. "Hi daddy." She said innocently.

"I don't think so. Out of the car. Now." Emma nodded and obliged. "And you." He pointed at Neal. "You don't need to be letting minors drive your car around. How old are you anyway?"

"I'm 21 sir." He answered. David's eyes went wide, he looked pissed. "I know, I know. I look awful young young for my age." He joked looking into the rear view mirror.

David just walked away and saw Emma standing outside the patrol car. "Get in the car." She obliged. "I'm taking you to school." He said after getting in the car. Emma didn't talk the whole way there. "Come on."

"You're going in with me?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

He gave her a stern look. "Yes Emma. I'm going in _with_ you. Because, apparently I can't trust you to go in on your own." He said with a pointed look. Emma rolled her eyes. "Cut it out with that eye roll Emma. You are on very thin ice right now. Let's go."

They walked inside and were greeted by an office secretary. "Hello! What can I do for you?"

"I'm David Nolan. I'm here to sign in my daughter, Emma."

The woman was now confused. "Sir. You're aware that you don't need to sign her in?"

He chuckled. "Yes. I wanted to ask you a question." The woman nodded, signalling for him to continue. "I was wondering what the punishment is for students caught skipping?"

Emma's jaw dropped and the woman couldn't help but chuckle at her. "It's a detention for first offenders, but this is Miss Nolan's second offense, so she has an administrative detention. That's an hour long detention. If it happens a third time, she'll have a time-owed, which is a two hour detention. After that it leads to suspension."

"Well, I think you should sign Emma up for one of those administrative detentions."

Her head snapped from the secretary to her father. "Dad!"

David ignored her and Emma got signed up. They walked out of the office. "Emma. Please behave today."

"Whatever dad. I have to get to class." She started walking away, but David grabbed her arm.

"I love you princess." He said as someone was walking by.

Emma turned bright red. "Dad!" She chastised. "I thought we made an agreement. No saying that in public." He chuckled unapologetically and she rolled her eyes, then hugged him. "I love you too." He kissed the top of her head. "And I'm sorry." She began walking away.

"For what?" He asked when she was about 7 feet away.

Emma turned around and shrugged. "Mostly for getting caught." She sorta, kinda, not really joked.

XXX

Come Saturday night, Emma went to bed around 10:30, telling her father goodnight. She climbed out of her window at 10:45 and made her way to the old recently abandoned fair. She knew that she was there when she saw the yellow bug- that she loves so much- parked outside.

She walked up to the gate and saw Neal standing there. "So… what now? It's locked up."

"I can teach you a thing or two."

He pulled out two things. "What are those?"

"Tension wrench. Pick." He said showing her the tools. "Classic lock picking tools."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "You're going to break in?" Neal merely nodded. "You realise that my dad is a lieutenant at the A-7, right? I could have you arrested."

"But you won't."

Emma shrugged, knowing he was right. "How do you even do that?"

He smirked. "The tension wrench goes here." He said, inserting the tool into the bottom of the keyhole and wiggling it a bit. "You have to determine which was the key is supposed to turn. When you wiggle it like such, it tugs in that position." He pulled out the pick. "This is the hard part." He put the pick in. "You have to put this in and find the right order and such of the pins on the inside." He kept messing around with it. "It's all about the tumblers."

"Tumbler?"

He chuckled. "It's the pins… whatever that doesn't matter." A few seconds later, the door opened. "After you." Emma walked in and Neal was right behind her, then made his way over to a mechanical box next to a ride and turned it on.

"Wow. This is so pretty."

She sat down on the ride and Neal sat across from her and poured her a drink. "I used to work here. They never changed the security information before they abandoned it." He shrugged. "So Emma Nolan, what's your story?" He asked her.

She merely shrugged. "I don't have one." Ironic, especially since she's a literal character in a storybook.

"Everyone has one. Even I have one. So do you. Tell me. Why was daddy's perfect little angel stealing a car?"

Emma scoffed. "Please."

"What is it Emma? Who are you?"

She rolled her eyes as she drank the rest of her cup of tequila, then poured herself another glass. "I'm no one." She whispered so quietly that Neal barely heard her. "You don't know me. You don't know anything about me."

"I know you try to be tough." She glared at him, getting royally pissed off, then took a rather large drink of her tequila. "But you're scared. Scared that if you keep screwing up, he'll just leave you." He told her. "That's why, when you stole my car, you were headed straight out of Charlestown."

She gritted her teeth together. "You don't know what you're talking about. He loves me… more than anything. He needs me." That's when it hit her. What if her dad only has her because of the curse. What if that's the only reason he wants her. Because he needs her. She took a rather large drink of her cup, then poured another glass.

"Listen. I'm not trying to piss you off. My point is that it's obvious something's bothering you. Maybe you should work it out, instead of running away."

Emma shook her head to rid her mind of those thoughts. "Wh-what's your story?"

He shrugged. "Long story short, I gave my father a choice. He made the wrong one."

"I was in the system, up until I was 10. That's when my dad found me." She confided. By this time she was consuming alcohol like it was candy.

She was just about to pour herself another glass when Neal grabbed the bottle. "I think that's enough." He chuckled. "I'll drive you home. Come on."

" 'm fine. I just live the next block over. I'll walk." And with that she left and climbed into her room through her window and nestled herself under her covers, not even seeing her father sitting in her room waiting for her to return.

He definitely saw her and- not to mention- smelled the alcohol on her. He was starting to get really worried about her. She was going through something and was pretending she was fine. But he could see past it. Something was going on with his little girl, and he was going to figure out what it was. He honestly couldn't even be that mad at her, he was too worried. He walked over to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I love you princess." He whispered.

XXX

Emma woke up the next morning with a splitting headache and was extremely nauseous.

The first thing she did was make her way to the bathroom and vomit, but there her dad was rubbing her back. She melted into it, at least until she remembered the events of last night. Her dad didn't love her, he was using her. Just to break the stupid curse.

David was rubbing her back, when he suddenly felt her stiffen up out of nowhere. "Emma?"

"Leave me alone." She whispered.

This massively confused him. "What? No Em, we need to talk about something… about a few things, actually."

Emma stood up and made her way to her room, ignoring the fact that he was following her. That's when she saw the glass of water and aspirin on her nightstand. "What?" She asked herself. "What's that for?"

"That, my darling daughter, if for your hangover." He said in a low voice, so he didn't make her head any worse.

Her eyes widened, but she quickly recovered. "Oh." She took the medicine. "Well, thanks. I guess. I'm fine now. You can go." She said rudely.

"Emma." He said softly as she sat on her bed. "What's going on with you? You haven't been yourself lately." He sat next to her. "Please Emma. Tell me what's going on with you."

"Why aren't you mad at me?" She whispered, terrified that she'd finally crossed the line. She mistakenly allowed a stray tear to fall.

David quickly wiped the tear from he face. "I'm too worried about you to me mad Em." She scoffed under her breath, but it was loud enough for David to hear. "What?"

"You're not worried." She blurted out.

David furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What? Why would you think I'm not worried?"

"Just forget it."

He shook his head. "No Emma. We're talking about this. Now, answer my question. Why would you think that I'm not worried about you?"

She was trying so hard not to cry but it all happened at once. "Because dad!" She yelled, and stood up, tears falling from her eyes. It was making her head worse, but she didn't care. "Because! It's all been a lie! You don't… you don't…" She couldn't bring herself to say it. "You just want me so I could break the stupid curse! Admit it! That's all this ever was!"

"What?" Well, that came out of nowhere. "Emma. That was never the point of me coming here." Emma refused to look at him. "You'd be breaking the curse whether or not I came through that door. I went through that door because my sweet innocent little girl had spent 10 years alone. You didn't deserve that, any of it. You deserve the world Emma." She was staring at the ground very intently. "Look at me." She ignored him, so he lifted her chin so they were making eye contact. "Look into my eyes. Tell me Em, am I lying to you right now?"

She just collapsed into her father's arms, she'd been feeling that way for a while now, it was good to finally let it out. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm really sorry daddy."

 _ **Please Review...**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Emma and Neal have been secretly seeing each other for a few months now, she knew her dad wouldn't approve, with Neal being four years older than her and all.

Emma was waiting for Neal after school, but he never showed, so she just went home. It was weird. Neal was _never_ late. He had this thing about punctuality, he'd never, not once been late. So, when he didn't show, she was pissed.

She went inside and stormed into her room, slamming her door shut, her dad would be home in a few minutes. She immediately got on her desktop in her bedroom to email Neal, when she noticed she had an email from him. _Oh._ She thought. _Must be an explanation as to why he didn't show up._

 _To:_ _emmanolan83_

 _From:_ _bae_neal200_

 _I left last night Emma. I love you. The bug's yours. I got a new vin number. It's clean. Keys are in the glove box. Goodbye._

She stared at the email, not believing her eyes. If he really loved her, he wouldn't just leave her with no explanation. Would he?

When she heard the front door open, she numbly exited out of her email account and pulled out some homework from school. She didn't even realize she was crying until a tear fell from her face onto her paper.

A few hours passed and she found herself wanting to talk to her dad about it. She went ahead and decided to come clean to him. He'd probably be upset, but she didn't like lying to him in the first place.

She came out of her room about half an hour before dinner was going to be ready. "Hey dad. Need any help?" She asked him when he was getting the food ready to be put in the oven.

"Really?" He asked shocked. "You think I'm _ever_ letting you near any kitchen appliances after last time?"

She feigned hurt. "It was one time and it was a common mistake."

"A common mistake? You forgot to put water in the noodles." Emma couldn't hold back her glare. "And what about the cake you tried to bake me?"

"How was I supposed to know that foil isn't supposed to go in the bottom of the oven?" She defended.

He smiled at her. "You also tried to fish toast out of the toaster… with a fork. Let's not forget the microwave incident. The number one rule with microwaves is _no foil_ , never again am I letting you near another kitchen appliance."

She was enjoying their little banter. "The bread was stuck!" He just kept laughing at her. "Okay, okay, I get it. I'm not trusted in the kitchen." There was complete silence for a beat. "I have to tell you something though." She said seriously.

David nodded. "Alright, just let me put this in the oven." Emma nodded and waited for him on the couch.

A few minutes later, David was sitting next to her on the couch. "What's going on princess?"

"I lied to you dad." She whispered. "I was seeing someone… behind your back." His eyes were wide as saucers. "It's over now, but I didn't like lying to you." She was near tears at this point. "And I really wanted to talk about it with you." She sighed. He was upset now, she could tell. He's not gonna like the next part, at all. "It was Neal." He closed his eyes. Oh God. He was mad. Really, really mad. Pissed. "I know you didn't want me seeing him, but…" She stopped herself before she started crying again.

He took a deep breath. "But what Emma?"

She looked up at him, eyes filled with tears and David's features immediately softened. "I love him daddy, but he left me." That was it for her, she couldn't keep it in any longer.

David hated seeing her in so much pain. He pulled her into a hug. "Shh, you're okay princess." Emma just melted into his embrace and eventually cried herself to sleep.

XXX

Emma woke up the next morning confused. When did she get to bed? Her dad must've carried her, she realized. She looked over at her clock and saw it was barely 3am, she tried going back to sleep, but failed.

She groaned and got out of bed, then quietly made her way to the kitchen for some coffee, lots and lots of coffee. She just sat there and watched as the coffee brewed, unaware of her dad coming up behind her.

"Em?" He asked. He startled her and she jumped up, hitting her head on the cabinet above her head. He grimaced and grabbed her an ice pack. "Here you go princess. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

She shrugged, holding the ice pack to her head. "It's fine dad. What are you doing up anyways? Don't you have to wake up early tomorrow?"

"I could ask you the same."

"I asked you first."

He chuckled. "I heard something, so I got up to check on you, only to find you not in your room, then I come out here to find you making coffee at 3am."

"I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep." David reached over and turned the coffee pot off. "Hey! I need that."

He shook his head. "It's 3am kiddo. You don't need coffee." Emma shoulders slumped. "You do need hot cocoa and cinnamon."

"That's unfair." She mumbled. "You know it makes me sleepy at night and that I can't refuse it… ever."

He laughed and started making it. "That's why I suggested it."

A few minutes later, they were sitting on the couch together drinking their cocoa. Emma was leaning on David, taking small sips of her drink. "I'm sorry I've been so difficult lately."

"It's okay princess." He kissed her head. "Apparently it's a teenager thing. That's what Johnson told me."

Emma snuggled up against her father. "Charlotte's dad?" She felt him nod. "I'm still sorry." She whispered and within ten minutes, she was asleep up against her dad.

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Twice in one night."

XXX

Emma opened her eyes at nearly 10am. What the hell? She has school. She got out of bed and saw her dad cooking in the kitchen. "Dad?" She was even more confused. He has work.

David turned around. "Good morning princess." He said with a gentle smile. "I thought we both could use a day off."

"You realise that today was the last day of school before Christmas break, right?" She asked laughing.

He nodded. "I do. I took a few weeks off."

"Why?" She asked skeptically. "Did you do it because of me?"

He shook his head. "I didn't do it _because_ of you. I did it _for_ you." Emma sighed and sat down at the table where her breakfast awaited her. "After breakfast, you need to pack a bag."

"Why would I need to pack a bag?"

He smiled. "Because, Emma. We, are going on a trip. Just you and me. We're gonna spend some quality father-daughter time together."

"Just us? No getting called into work for emergencies?" He asked.

David shook his head. "We're leaving for two weeks. The captain assigned an inter-room lieutenant. So, yes, just us."

Emma couldn't help but smile at her father. "So… where are we gonna go?"

David shrugged. "I don't really know kiddo, I was thinking we could just head east and go from there."

XXX

Emma and David had packed their bags and went on the road, they stopped at a Diner in New Hampshire.

"Dad? If I ask you something… promise not to get mad?"

David smiled at his teenage daughter. "You can ask me anything princess."

Emma scowled at the use of her pet name in public, but recovered quickly. "It's about mom. I know that sometimes when I talk or ask about mom, it just makes you miss her more, but-"

David cut off Emma's rambling with a smile on his face. "Em. It's okay. What is it?"

She looked down. "Why didn't she come?" She whispered.

It broke her father's heart. She sounded so vulnerable. She was heartbroken, she just wanted her mom. If he ever saw that Neal kid again, he'd draw his sword on him. "I told you kiddo, we had to fool Regina."

"Who cares? So what if Regina knew?" She looked down. "At least we'd all be together." She heaved a sigh. "I sound like such a child."

David reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "I know you're growing up kiddo, and it's getting harder, especially with the recent events, but your mother loves you. Even if she doesn't remember it. She loves you baby."

"I'm not a baby." As if on cue, their song- _My Little Girl_ by _Tim Mcgraw-_ came on. Emma couldn't help but roll her eyes at the irony. David stood up, with Emma's hand still in his. "What are you doing?" She asked, already having a feeling what it was.

"I think you already know that Emma." Her face went red. "Emma Nolan. May I have this dance." He asked with a bow.

Emma's face reddened more as people started staring. "Dad. No." She hissed. "People are staring." Much to Emma's demise, the waitress turned the music up. "Come _on_." She groaned. "Fine." She relented after seeing her father's pleading eyes.

David smiled gleefully as Emma stood up. She laid her head on her father's shoulder and they swayed together- completely forgetting the crowd watching them- when the song was coming to an end, David whispered, "You'll always be my little girl."

Everybody started clapping when the music cut off, bring Emma back to reality, she sat down. "Oh. My. God. We just did that. I can't believe you just made me do that!" She covered her face with her hands and groaned. "That was embarrassing."

He smirked. "That's what I live for. Embarrassing my beautiful daughter." Emma rolled her eyes. "Ready to go?" Emma nodded, so David went over to the counter and paid the bill.

XXX

David and Emma were driving through Maine when they passed a sign reading, _Welcome to Storybrooke._

"Storybrooke." David breathed out. "Where do I know that name?" He asked himself and looked over at his sleeping daughter, forgetting about the familiar name of the town. They pulled up to a B&B and David was truly dreading the thing he'd have to do next… wake his daughter. He often compared waking Emma to putting a golden egg inside of Maleficent.

After 10 minutes of coaxing Emma into the land of the living, they walked inside the B&B and David's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

"Dad." Emma groaned grumpily. "Get a move on. I'm tired."

David was brought back to reality and put an arm around her, Emma responded by lying her head on his shoulder. "Alright kiddo." He walked up to the two arguing people. "Uh… hello." The two arguing women stopped and stared at the pair. "We'd like a room." David winced at the clothing Red was wearing, he'd become protective of her over the years, even knowing she could very well take care of herself, but she'd become a little sister to him.

"Really?" Granny asked and David nodded. "Would you like a forest view or a square view? Normally there's an upgrade fee for the square, but as the rent is due, I'll wave it."

David scratched behind his ear. "Square it is." He said with a smile.

"Now, what's the name?"

David looked at his daughter, who was practically asleep on him. "Nolan. David and Emma Nolan."

"Emma." David heard an all to familiar voice breathe out. "What a lovely name." It was the exact same way that Rumpelstiltskin said when he awoke 7 years prior, so David knew he had just awoken.

The eeriness of the man's voice snapped Emma out of her half asleep daze, she turned around. "Cause that's not creepy." She deadpanned, ignoring his chuckle and paying no notice to David's glare at the man. "Dad. Can we go to our room or whatever now?"

David's eyes flicked down to his daughter and his eyes softened. "Just after I pay princess." He handed Granny his card.

"Ah, princess." The man said, suppressing a chuckle. "Suits her, does it not?" She said to David. "You must be such a _charming_ father, Mr Nolan."

Emma stiffened at his comments. "What?"

"Okay, here you go." Granny handed David his card back and then handed Gold a wad of cash. "It's all here."

The man nodded "Yes, yes. Of course it is dear." He turned to the Nolan's. "Enjoy your stay." And with that, he was gone.

"Who was that?" Emma asked, fully awake now.

Red- who was watching Gold leave through the curtains- answered Emma. "Mr Gold. He owns the place."

"The inn?"

Granny shook her head. "No. The town."

David and Emma made their way to the room. "Dad-" Emma started.

"Holy hell." David sighed. "I knew I recognised the name! I just couldn't place it! How could I have forgotten it?"

"Dad! What the hell is going on?"

David looked over to her and bit his lip, not even caring about her language at the moment. "Em, you may want to sit down." He grabbed her hands and lead her over to the bed to sit down. "Emma, I think we may be in the cursed town… where everybody is… including-"

"-mom." She finished. "I'm not prepared for this dad! You said I'd be 28." Emma was starting hyperventilate. "Dad." She gasped out.

David's eyes went wide. She hadn't had an asthma attack in almost a year. "Copy my breathing Emma, come on baby. I need you to copy my breathing."

"Can't… daddy… inhaler." She gasped.

He had to think fast, the inhaler was in the truck. He looked around the room and found a brown paper bag. He grabbed it and put it over Emma's mouth. "Breath into this." She obliged. "Good girl. Keep doing it. I'll be right back. I have to go get your inhaler." Emma merely nodded.

David shot out of the room and down the stairs, out of the building, not even hearing someone come up behind him. "Are you okay?"

He turned around, it was only Red. "Huh? Yeah, yeah. I have to get this to my daughter." Red nodded understandably, she couldn't help but feel like she had a connection to him, though it wasn't sexual, she shook the feeling off and walked away.

David made his way upstairs and quickly got his daughter the inhaler, after her breathing calmed down he sighed. "Keep that _on_ you at all times princess. How many times have I told you that?" He asked rhetorically. "You about gave me a heart attack." He pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

"I'm sorry dad." She said into his chest.

He rubbed her back. "It's okay kiddo. In the morning, I'm gonna go see The Dark One. I'll need you to stay here."

Emma pulled from the hug. "What? No. I'm coming with you!" She demanded.

"Excuse me?" He asked, eyebrows raised.

Emma sighed. "Please? Can I please come with you?" She corrected.

He shook his head. "Afraid not kiddo. He may not have magic here but he's a manipulative man, I don't want you anywhere near him. Understood?"

Emma heaved a dramatic sigh. "I understand." She grumbled. "Doesn't mean I have to agree though, because in case you didn't notice. I don't."

 _ **Please Review...**_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

It's about 4am and Emma couldn't sleep for the life of her, she looked over at her sleeping father and sighed. She needed some air. Hopefully her dad won't freak out if he wakes up and she's gone. She decided to leave him a not.

 _Dad, don't freak out. I needed some air. I'll be back soon. Don't worry, I have my inhaler. -E_

He will most likely still probably freak out, but she _really_ needed some air.

She grabbed her inhaler off the nightstand and shoved into the pocket of her pajama bottoms, then she grabbed her coat and left the room.

She was walking Main Street when she saw her. Emma stopped dead in her tracks as a lump formed in her throat. She was trying to keep her breathing even, but it was hard, really hard. She was seeing her mother for the first time.

The woman walked up to her, noticing her wide eyes and uneven breathing. "Are you alright?" That's when Emma finally dug into her pocket for her inhaler.

She continued to stare at the woman with wide eyes as she used her inhaler, not even hearing Mr Gold come up behind her. "Ah, Miss Blanchard. I see you've met Miss Nolan."

Emma turned around and saw Mr Gold, she slowly backed away. She was supposed to be staying away from this man. Her dad would be pissed. "Uh… I have to go." She wasn't ready to face her mother yet, especially if Gold was there.

"Wait." Her mother said, Emma stopped dead in her tracks, she _really_ felt like she was going to cry. "My name is Mary Margaret."

Emma smiled weakly at the woman. "Emma."

Mary Margaret smiled. "Emma." She repeated. "That's a beautiful name." She said with a genuine smile on her face, which Gold couldn't help but smirk at.

"I… really have to go. My dad will flip if… I'm late." And with that, she was gone, not even realizing that she dropped her inhaler. She arrived at the inn, just as her father came down the stairs, she really just wanted to hide at that moment, but she couldn't do that, partly because it's just wrong, but mostly because he'd just spotted her. "Hi daddy."

She watched as his features went from worry, to relief, to just pissed. "Emma Ruth." She grimaced. The middle name… in public. She looked over and saw Granny suppressing a chuckle. "Let's go. Now."

"Dad," she started, but stopped after seeing the warning look on his face.

When they got to their room, David calmly closed the door. "Emma." His words are calm, but his eyes are angry. It's starting to confuse Emma. She's never seen him like this. "It's dangerous out there Emma. Too dangerous for you to be out there alone. When Regina finds out… she'll be angry Emma. She'll try to destroy me." She could see the tears brimming in his eyes. "The only way to truly destroy me, Emma, is you. If she hurts you…" He trailed off.

Emma launched herself into his arms. "I'm sorry." She whispered. Then all the tears she's been holding in came out. Hopefully she could play it off, tell him that she's crying because of how worried he was.

After noticing Emma's tears he pulled back and wiped her tears away. "Hey, what else it bothering you?" He hadn't seen her this upset since she thought she saw… oh. Last time she cried like this was when she thought she saw Snow at the market when she was 13. "Oh Emma." He pulled her into a hug. "You saw your mother, didn't you."

"She didn't even recognize me." She said, so full of emotion. She looked up into her father's eyes with a hint of a smile. "She said that… I have a beautiful name." He smiled at her and cradled her head. "We can stay, right? We can move here?"

"I need to talk to Rumple first." He looked down at his daughter. "Promise me you'll stay here Emma."

Emma nodded, albeit reluctantly. "I promise."

"I'll be back soon." He kissed her forehead. "Stay put." He grabbed his jacket and keys then he left.

Roughly 10 minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Emma opened the door and was met by her mother. "Uh..." She swallowed. "What… what can I do for you?" She asked, trying to remain calm.

"You dropped this earlier today." She said holding up Emma's inhaler.

Emma grabbed it with a shaky hand. "Thank you." She said quietly. "I might need this." She said, with a bit more confidence. "I'll uh see you around… Mary Margaret, right?"

"Yes. And I, you. Goodbye Emma."

XXX

David walked into Gold's shop. "Hello dearie. What can I do for you?"

"You said 28." Gold raised an eyebrow, playing dumb. "Cut the act Rumple. My daughter's freaking out because she thought she had 11 more years to prepare for this! She's barely 17!"

"I needed everyone to believe that she wouldn't be here until her 28th birthday. Especially Regina. And until the curse breaks, you need to call me Gold."

David sighed. "Okay. _Gold_ , how do we break the curse? I know Emma needs to be the one to do it, but it's not like she has a true love. She's still a kid."

"That's all up to the princess."

After David left, he went back to his room and immediately emailed his letter of resignation to his boss and hired someone he trusted to move everything in their home into storage.

XXX

"Emma you are officially enrolled in Storybrooke High School, which starts back up next Monday."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't I have more important things to do? Like, you know, break a curse?"

"Nice try princess. School is non-negotiable. Although, I do need to notify you of your teacher." Emma stared at him expectantly. "It's… your mother."

"It's okay dad. I've gotten better at being calm when I see her. I've even started to be… myself around her."

David smiled. "That's great kiddo." We looked down at the paper in his hand and gave it to Emma. "What do you think?"

Emma smirked. "Tell me why I'm not surprised. A farmhouse." She read the address. "Isn't that on like the edge of town or something?"

"More less." She nodded and handed him the papers back. "I also got a job at the sheriff's station."

Emma smiled. "That's good."

"One more thing Em." She raised an eyebrow and he took a deep breath, because she was _not_ gonna be happy about this. "I've scheduled you an appointment at the hospital. It's tonight at 6." Before she could object, he interrupted. "It's non-negotiable Emma, your asthma has gotten a lot worse since we arrived. It's just a check-up."

"I don't need to go to the hospital!" She insisted. "I probably caught a bug or something dad."

He felt her head. "Maybe. But I'm not taking any chances. This feels different anyways."

"Fine." She rolled her eyes. "It's not like I have a say in the matter." She grabbed her wallet off of the table. "I'm going to the diner. Alone."

David sighed. "I know you don't want to go to the hospital Em, but that doesn't mean you get to speak to me like that. Drop the attitude."

"Can I please go to the diner by myself?" She asked with a fake smile on her face.

He had to bite back a chuckle at her fake enthusiasm. "That's… better, I suppose." He saw her crack a real smile. "Just be back in an hour. If your not, I'll send out a search party. Don't test me, you know I don't have a problem with it." Emma nodded. "Don't forget your inhaler." She grabbed her inhaler off of the counter and went to the diner.

Emma walked into the diner and was almost immediately greeted by Ruby. "Hey kid. What's up?"

"Not a kid." She retorted with a cough. Her and Ruby had this conversation everyday. "Just want a grilled cheese." She answered and sat next to Mary Margaret.

Ruby nodded and came back a few minutes later with her food. "Everything okay?"

Emma groaned. "My dad." She replied simply and took a bite of her food. "He's being absolutely ridiculous." She took another bite. "He's forcing me to go to a check-up at the hospital. I hate hospitals."

"Why? Does he think something's wrong?" Mary Margaret interjected.

Emma smiled weakly. "My stupid asthma." She grumbled. "It's gotten a little worse, but it's because of my cold. Hardly reason for a hospital visit."

"Seems to me like he's just worried." Ruby commented.

Mary Margaret nodded. "I agree."

Emma glared at the two women. "I didn't sit over here so you guys could agree with him." Both adults shared an amused glance. "Ruby. Can I have hot chocolate? With extra chocolate! Ooh and a chocolate milkshake."

Mary Margaret stared with wide eyes. "That's _a lot_ of chocolate Emma."

Emma merely shrugged. "Perks of having my own money." She said with a smile on her face, then, much to her demise, she was hit with a coughing fit and started wheezing. She internally groaned and pulled her inhaler out, taking a few puffs.

XXX

Emma got out of her father's truck and was walking as slow as she possibly could to get inside the hospital, they left early, knowing Emma was going to stall as much as she could. "Em. I know you don't like hospitals."

Emma turned to her father. "Don't you see dad? It's more than that!" She snapped.

David looked at Emma and he could tell she wasn't just stalling, so he brought her over to a bench and sat down. "Take a deep breath Emma." She obliged. "Tell me princess. What is it?"

"Last time I was in a hospital dad… it was… you were… hurt. I thought you were gonna die dad."

Suddenly he understood. She hadn't stepped foot in a hospital in over 3 years, when David got hurt at work. He nearly died, Emma was terrified.

David pulled Emma into a bone crushing hug. "I love you princess. I was okay, just as I promised you I would be." They sat there together for a few minutes. "Ready?" Emma nodded numbly.

They made their way inside and were greeted by Dr. Whale. "Hello Emma. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I'm fine. He's just over dramatic. I have a cold."

Whale nodded. "Well, I might as well give you a full check-up. I'm gonna go ahead and give you a cheek swab, then we'll get you to x-ray. With your history of asthma, it's a risk factor for quite a few conditions and viruses." She nodded.

A few hours after her tests the doctor came in the room and he looked troubled. "Dr. Whale?" David questioned. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure. That's the problem. You say her asthma hasn't been this bad in a few years, yes?" David nodded, squeezing Emma's hand reassuringly. "Well, nothing should cause it to flare back up like this, not even a cold. We've checked for viruses and all common triggers. I'm afraid that you're going to need to keep your inhaler on you at all times Emma."

"Whatever." She grumbled. David nudged her with his arm and gave her a warning look. She heaved a dramatic sigh. "Thank you Dr. Whale."

The doctor chuckled. "You're very welcome Emma." He turned to David. "You know all the protocols for exercises with asthma, correct? Daily walks, not too much stress, no sports until her asthma eases back up." David nodded. "Now I must be going! I have a date tonight!"

David chuckled. "With who? If you don't mind my asking."

Whale waved it off. "Not at all deputy. I'm sure you've met her. Mary Margaret?"

David's smiled disappeared and Emma had to grab his arm to bring him back to reality. "Oh?" Whale merely nodded, then left the room. "She's going on a date with _him_?"

"Dad. They're cursed."

He sighed. "I know, but Em. Have you heard his reput-" He stopped himself, he was not talking to his daughter about Whale's reputation. "Nevermind." A small smile graced upon his lips as an idea came to mind. "Wanna go to Granny's for dinner Em?"

Emma giggled. "Really? You're going to spy?"

"What?" He placed his hand over his heart, feigning offense. "I would never. I just want a meal with my daughter."

XXX

"Do you see the way he's looking at Ruby? He's on a date with Sn-Mary Margaret, for Christs sake. I should go say something. It's so disrespectful." He turned to Emma. "If a guy ever looks at you like that, just let me know. It won't happen again."

Emma raised her eyebrow. "Dad. Eat your food."

They heard Mary Margaret say, "Ruby. Check please?" David grinned.

David watched as Whale left the diner. "Dad. Just ask her out already. Spying on her while she's on a date is not the way to get her to go out with you."

"I'm not spying." He insisted. Emma raised her eyebrows at him. "Fine." He stood up and walked over to her. "Hello Mary Margaret."

She looked up at him with a knowing smirk on her face. "Well, hello deputy _Not Spying._ " David's eyes widened. "You should know, neither you nor your daughter can whisper."

David looked up to glare at his daughter, but saw she was in hysterics, laughing. He pinched the bridge of his nose, in slight embarrassment.

"Well? Did you come over here to ask me something or…" She prompted.

He chuckled. "Indeed I did. Would you like to… go out with me sometime?" He asked slowly.

"Yes, David." She said with her own chuckle.

 _ **Expect a twist next chapter!**_

 _ **Please Review...**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

David was getting ready for his date. "I mean it Emma. You need to stay here. I don't want you going anywhere."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Dad. We've been here for three days and Regina hasn't made herself known to us." David gave her a stern look. "Fine. Geez, I was just saying."

David smiled at her. "Good." He nodded. "Tomorrow, we move our things into the new house. I'll be waking you up at around 9."

Emma snorted. "Good luck with that."

David rolled his eyes and came out of the bathroom. "Yeah, yeah. I'm about ready to go. Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?"

It was Emma's turn to roll her eyes. "Remind me dad, how old am I?" He gave her an amused look. "I will be fine. I promise. I have my inhaler and I don't plan on going anywhere."

He came over and kissed the top of her head. "I love you princess. Bye." And with that, he left.

Emma had been sitting in the room, watching TV for about half an hour when there was a light knock on the door. Curious, Emma went over and opened the door, only to find a 7 year old girl with a bright smile on her face waiting for her.

"Hi! You're Emma, right?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Maybe. Who are you?"

"I'm Angel Taylor! And I'm coming in!" She pushed her way inside.

Emma stared at the little girl with wide eyes. "Whoa. Kid. What are you doing?"

"I'm telling you a story!" She took Emma's hand and dragged her over to the couch. "As you already know, all these stories are true!"

Emma slowly picked the book up and stared at it with wide eyes. "Whoa… kid, where did you get this?"

"Our mom volunteers at the orphanage and she gave it to me a few months ago."

Emma's heart broke for this little girl, she was a foster kid… wait. _Did she just say our mom?_ "Our mom?"

The girl nodded eagerly and flipped to the end of the book.

 _17 years ago…_

 _Snow White had just given birth to her daughter Emma and sent her husband Charming off to send her through the magical wardrobe. She was laying there and she was in pain, obviously. "Snow-" Doc started._

" _Doc, I'm sorry. Whatever it is, it has to wait until the curse is broken. I need to check on Charming." And before he could protest, she was limping towards the nursery. She saw her husband lying lifeless on the floor. "No." She went over and tried kissing him awake. "No, no, no! Charming!"_

" _That won't work dear." Regina taunting. "Don't fret. Where we're going, you won't even know him, let alone mourne him!"_

 _It was then that Snow had a… contraction? But she already gave birth to her child. She let out a loud, ear-piercing scream._

 _Curious, Regina froze everything around them, including the curse and with a wave of her hand, put her step-daughter to sleep. She examined her and was shocked. Twins? She was able to birth the baby, without waking Snow. "If the curse ever breaks, dear Snow," She started, holding the crying infant in her arms. "You shall never be reunited with your other daughter."_

 _Although, she couldn't help but name the child something she knew Snow would love. Angel Eva. She knew that the curse would provide her with a surname. Although, she knew that she couldn't keep this child along with her son Daniel Jr. She had found out about her pregnancy just after her beloved Daniel's death, but hid him away to make sure her mother never found out._

Present Time…

"Oh. My. God." She has a sister? "This is… a lot. You're my sister?"

Angel nodded eagerly. "I only wish I could stay here. I know I can't, but I wish I could. The sisters are nice and all, but… I still hate it at the orphanage. Do you think our dad will still want me?"

"Of course he will!" She could sense that Angel wasn't convinced. "You know, I thought the same thing when I was little." Angel just looked confused. "I was in foster care since I was a little baby, but our dad found me when I was 10."

"So he did escape the curse?" Angel questioned. "I still don't understand how I'm getting older. No one else does." She shrugged.

Emma smiled. "I think I have a hunch." The little girl looked at her expectantly. She explained the story of their parents waking up from the curse just over seven years ago with pixie dust and whatnot, eventually she got to the part where Snow sacrificed the chance to see her daughter grow up and stayed, but David didn't. "So, what I'm thinking is, when they were awake, it somehow weakened the curse and in turn either weakened or broke your curse. Are you still with me?" She asked the young girl.

"I think. So, seven years ago, fairy magic woke our parents and woke me? Even though I wasn't anywhere near them?"

Emma nodded with a smile. "True love works in many ways Angel."

"Can you walk me home?"

Emma looked at the clock and saw that her dad shouldn't be there for another hour or so. "Sure kid." She lifted the storybook up. "Can I keep this? To explain everything to our dad?"

"Yeah. Of course!" She walked her _sister_ to the orphanage reluctantly. "Okay. We're here." Angel said sadly.

"I know." Emma sighed. "I'm sorry kid, I wish you could stay with us." The little girl merely shrugged her shoulders. "Soon though. I promise. I'll tell dad tonight. Then he'll try to get custody soon. It'll be hard because of Regina, but dad doesn't give up, especially on his kids."

Angel hugged Emma, surprising even herself. "Thank you Emma."

She started walking away, but Emma stopped her, she knew what orphanages were like, they were overcrowded and not everyone was treated the same. "Wait, kid." Angel turned around with her big innocent eyes. "They feed you here right? 3 meals a day? They treat you right?"

Angel nodded. "Mostly. If I get in trouble, Astra usually sneaks me up some food if she can. She says I can just call her Astra when it's just us, but when Mother Superior or the others are around, I have to call her Sister Astra." She informed Emma. Angel noticed how worried Emma looked and she couldn't help but smile. "I'll be okay Emma. I promise."

She watched as her sister went through the alleyway and climbed into the first floor window. She sighed, she knows what it's like and it sucks. She's just about to head home when she hears her father's voice, like directly behind her. "Emma?"

She froze. Crap. Crap. Crap. She was supposed to stay at the Inn. She slowly turned around with a sheepish, yet charming smile on her face. "Hi…" He looked like he was going to explode, but he kept his cool in front of his date. "Look dad, it's not my fault! I had to walk Angel home. It's dark. I couldn't let a seven year old girl walk home by herself."

"Angel?" Mary Margaret questioned. "Angel Taylor?" Emma nodded. "She must have snuck out. She's been telling everyone that'll listen of her theory. Did she rope you in too?"

Emma nodded. "Uh-huh." She turned to her dad. "Sorry? I'll just, uh.. Leave now. Bye dad. Bye Mary Margaret."

She went home and about 10 minutes later David walked through the door and Emma was sleeping on her bed with the book in hand. The sound of the door closing woke Emma. "Hey Em. It's okay. You can go back to sleep princess."

Emma shook her head. "No. I have to show you. Sit down." He obliged as she showed him the storybook with stories about everyone from Storybrooke.

"Rumple must have created it with the curse. Wow."

Emma smiled. "Just wait dad." She turned to the last few pages of the book. "Read this. It's the most important part."

As he was reading she saw his face pale. He was fuming. "I'm going to kill her." He slammed the book shut. "Not only did she cause me to miss out on the first 10 years of your life, but now I learn that she caused me to miss out on 7 years of Angel's life?" He sighed and took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Snow's always loves the name Angel, you know."

Emma hugged her father. "How are we gonna get her out of there. She hates it. It's not like you can just declare that you're her dad and take her."

An idea came to David. "I have an idea." He declared. "We have to get her to publicly insist that I'm her father and I'll offer a DNA test to prove her wrong, but really, I'll be proving her right. I'll tell them I had no clue of her existence- which I didn't- and tell them that I want custody."

Emma smiled. "Mary Margaret said she's been telling everyone about her theory- which is the whole curse thing- so, I'll ask her to say something at like Granny's about you being her father because of the curse! It has to work dad!"

XXX

The next day was a really busy day, a sinkhole created by old mines appeared in town, but David, of course, made time for his girls today.

Emma and David were sitting at Granny's for dinner, Emma had told Angel about the plan earlier that day. Angel ran in nervously, she was pretty nervous about meeting her father. "Uh… Mr. Nolan?"

"Yeah?" He said nonchalantly.

She scratched behind her ear. "I'm your daughter!" She blurted out.

He didn't expect for it to come out so bluntly, he nearly choked on his coffee. "Pardon?"

"It's in the book!" She insisted.

At this point, everyone in the diner was staring at them, including Regina. "Tell you what kid. I'll prove it to you. We can take a test and prove it." He said after his little act of playing dumb.

Regina's eyes widened in anger, she quickly made her way over. "I hardly think that that's appropriate deputy! It'll only encourage her delusions."

Angel looked genuinely hurt by Regina's words. "Leave her alone." Emma said, not even thinking about what Regina would think. "She's seven. She's allowed to have an imagination."

"It couldn't possibly hurt anything, Madam Mayor. What's the problem?"

She gritted her teeth. "Nothing, it seems."

XXX

After the scene at the diner, Regina was livid. She went to go see Dr. Hopper, to tell him to break down the poor girl's spirits. "Dr. Hopper!"

"Ah. Madam Mayor! What can I do for you?"

Regina rolled her eyes at the doctor's enthusiasm. "I want you getting those delusions out of that child's head. I am paying for her sessions out-of-pocket! I refuse to have her parading around town, spewing off her fairytale nonsense." She could see that he was about to object. "Keep in mind Dr. Hopper, I can ruin you, and I don't have one problem doing it."

XXX

"Can you walk me to see Archie?" Angel asked Emma shyly.

Emma tilted her head in confusion. "Isn't Archie the therapist?" Angel nodded. "Why are you seeing him? I doubt you'll be sent to therapy for having an active imagination at 7."

"Astra says that Regina insisted it, so Mother Superior agreed and Regina pays Archie lots of money to see me everyday. Archie doesn't believe me, but he doesn't call me crazy like Regina."

Emma knelt down so she and her sister were eye level. "Don't listen to her kid. You're not crazy. Later today, we'll get that blood test done and we'll get this all sorted out." They began walking together to the office of Archibald Hopper. They'd been walking for a while so Emma was running out of breath. She pulled her inhaler out of he pocket and took a few puffs.

Angel stared at her with curious eyes. "What's that?"

Emma shoved the inhaler back into her pocket. "That, little sister, is an inhaler. Sometimes I have a hard time breathing, I need it to help me. It's my medicine."

"But why?"

She sighed. "Well, when I was born, I was sent through the wardrobe, but it was really cold outside. I was out there all alone for about an hour or so, plus I was born early, it sort of messed with my breathing. But, that's what the inhaler is for. It helps me breathe."

Angel hugged Emma. "Oh. Well, I have to go see Archie now, Emma. Bye."

"Bye kid. Things will be okay soon. I promise. You'll be with dad and I, in no time."

Angel smiled. "And by the way. We're twins. We were born on the same day, you're only like a few minutes older than me." She said and walked into her therapists office.

She saw him talking to Marco, AKA Gepetto. "Hey Archie. Are you recruiting Gepetto for Operation cobra?"

Marco took that as his cue to leave. "You think Marco's Gepetto?"

"Sure. He's Jiminy's best friend, and he's yours."

Archie sighed. "Angel. Angel, we really need to talk about this."

"I know that you don't totally believe, but I have a plan." She insisted and pulled her book bag of of her bag and opened it.

Archie viewed the objects inside. "What is this? A flashlight? Candy bars?" Then he realized what the child was up to. "Wait, Angel. Angel, you don't want to go down there."

"Emma's here. My sister. And my dad. They're here. Stuff's happening. I have to look at it."

He sighed, he did _not_ want to do this. "Angel. Stop. Stop. There's no proof. Look at all this. It's all a delusion. Do you know what a delusion is?"

Angel looked down. "Yeah."

"It's something that's not real. And... and not healthy. And... and I thought you'd outgrow this but Angel, it's seem to have turned into a psychosis." He sighed, he was breaking her heart, he saw the tears pouring down her face. "Do you know what this is?" He continued. "It's when you can't tell if something's real or not. If this continues… Angel, I don't want to have to, but I might have to lock you away. Angel, look. This has to stop, for your own good. You have to wake up. This nonsense must end."

And just like that, Angel picked her bag up and ran out of his office and straight to the B&B to see her father and sister. She rapidly knocked on the door.

XXX

David and Emma were getting their things together, ready to go to their new home, when the heard an urgent knock on the door.

David answered it and saw his seven year old daughter crying. "Angel? Come in kiddo."

The sobs caught Emma's attention immediately. "What happened Ang?"

She sniffed. "Archie said delusions, like Regina said." Hiccup. "And he said psycho- something." Hiccup. "He said nonsense too." Hiccup. "Then.. then he said- he said he has to lock me up if I don't stop." Hiccup. "He's- he's supposed to be the only one," hiccup. "Besides you guys," hiccup. "That think I'm not crazy."

David was fuming, he knows it was because of Regina, but… just wow. You don't say those kinds of things to a 7-year old girl. He didn't think twice when he brought the crying girl into his arms, while Emma was rubbing circles into her back.

Emma subtly stopped rubbing the circles into Angel's back and quietly made her way out of the inn and to Archie's office. "Archie! Archie!" She yelled, entering the room. "What's your problem dude? She's seven, she's allowed to have a damn imagination!"

"When a course of therapy stops working, you adjust it."

Emma scoffed. "Yeah right. It was her, wasn't it? Regina made you do it. What could she have possibly said to cause you to say something like that to a child?"

"I do not need to defend my professional decisions to you, okay? You're just a child yourself. Where is your father?"

As if on cue her phone started ringing. She groaned. "Hello? What do you mean? No. I don't know where she is dad."

Archie sighed. "I think I do."

XXX

Angel noticed Emma sneaking past their father, but decided to wait until it would work for her. "Where'd she go?" Angel asked, looking around the room.

David groaned. She's doing what he had planned on doing. "Probably off to see Archie. Let's go find her."

"Actually, uh… you go. I have to get back to the orphanage. Bye David."

About 10 minutes later, he called Mother Superior to make sure that she got there safely, he didn't know what to think, so he called Emma.

"Hello?"

David sighed, at least he knew one of his children were safe. "Emma! Angel, she… I can't find her!"

"What do you mean?" Came a worried response.

"She said she was going back to the orphanage, then Astra called and asked if she was with me. Is she with you? Do you know where she is?"

He could hear her breath quickening. "No. I don't know where she is dad."

Then he heard a faint. "I think I do."

"Dad. I'll call you back."

XXX

Within the hour, the three were outside the sinkhole. "Angel! Angel!"

"She's gone in." Archie realised, then Emma ran in. Before David could go after them, it caved in, trapping both his daughter's in. This was bad, really bad. He knows that Emma's been using her inhaler a lot more than she has before, so she- no doubt- was running low. He doesn't even know how Angel acts when she's scared. This is bad. His daughter's are in danger and there's nothing he could do about it.

It took about two hours, but they finally found a way in, through an air shaft. He was lowered down and carried both his girls up, worry filling his heart, when he realised how little of medication Emma had left in her inhaler. "Are you guys okay?" He asked when they were alone.

"I'm fine." Both girls said in unison. David shot them both an unamused look. "That may have been cute, but you're not okay. Neither of you."

XXX

David reluctantly took Angel back to the home, the results would be in tomorrow, then he could bring her home. He took Emma to the pharmacy to get a new supply of inhalers. Then finally, they went to the inn and gathered their things, and- at last- took them to the farmhouse.

 _ **Please Review...**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The test, as expected, came back positive, Angel Taylor was the daughter of David Nolan and the sister of Emma Nolan, also, though know one knew it, the daughter of Snow White. She would soon become Angel Eva Nolan. David was immediately granted full custody of Angel, despite the mayor's protests.

They'd all been living in their new house for a week now, and it was time for school to start back up. He went in to wake Angel up first, figuring it'd be easier than waking Emma. He was wrong. "Angel." He whispered. "Angel, time to wake up kiddo." He gently shook her. "Come on Angel. Time for school." No response, well, she moaned, but that's it. "Really Snow?" He said to himself. "This is your fault." He looked down at his seven year old daughter, he was still processing the whole having a second daughter thing. He took in all her features, she was the spitting image of Snow, but she had his eyes. "Kiddo. Time to get up."

After a few minutes her eyes finally opened. "David?"

He smiled. "Hey there kiddo. School starts in a few hours. How about you get ready, I'll go wake your sister." David made his way into Emma's bedroom and he smiled, she looked so at peace when she's sleeping. "Emma." He shook her, no response- as expected. "C'mon princess. School. You have to go to school. Wake up." He looked at his daughter's features, just as he did with Angel, not ten minutes before, she was actually pretty much the spitting image of him. She had her mother's curls, but his hair color, definitely Snow's eyes and chin. But, everything else, was him. He loves that. He took a deep breath before doing the only other thing that could wake his daughter. He lifted her a few feet up into the air, then dropped her on the bed.

Her eyes shot open in a panic, then realised it was just her father. "Dad! How many times do I need to tell you? That's not a nice way to wake up!"

"It's the only way." He deadpanned. "Unless, of course, you'd like to be late to school, on your first day."

Emma groaned and sat up. "I'll make breakfast." She offered, with a glint in her eyes.

He started cracking. "You can watch if you'd like… from a distance… of at least six feet… if you don't touch anything. I wouldn't want this new house of ours to be caught on fire."

"You're so mean!" She hit him. "Get out. I need to get ready."

He kissed her head, then obliged. "By the time you're finished, I should have breakfast ready, then I'll drive you to school."

He went down the stairs to see his younger daughter quietly sitting on the couch. "Hey kiddo. Breakfast will be ready in a few. I was thinking that after I take Emma to school, you and I could hang out for about an hour before you need to go into school. Sound good to you?"

The little girl instantly smiled. "Yeah! I'm so excited. I can't wait until we break this dumb curse. Then we could all be a real happy family. You, me, Emma, and my mom."

XXX

Emma walked into her first period and sat down, seconds later a boy came over and sat next to her. "Hi, I'm Nicholas. This is my twin sister, Ava and my best friend DJ. You're Emma, right?"

Emma closed her book. "That's me."

"What are you doing after school?" He asked.

Emma shrugged. "I don't know. Why?"

"We usually hang out at the library for a little while, if you want to come with." Ava offered.

She nodded. "Sure. I just have to let my dad know."

She had learned a lot throughout the day. Ava and DJ are dating. DJ doesn't talk much, except to the twins. Ava and Nicholas just found their dad about a week ago. She quickly learned that the twins were Hansel and Gretel, but she's yet to learn who DJ is though.

They all went to the library after school and Emma finally met Belle! Her favorite disney princess! Her mom's great and she's a badass and all, Belle's always been her favorite. She goes my Lacey here though, but she's still freaking Belle!

Ava and Nick left about a half hour ago, it was just her and DJ at the library now

.She was reading peacefully, that is until she felt someone hovering over her. She looked up from her book and saw the mayor standing before her. She internally groaned. "Do you… need something?"

"What are you doing here?"

Emma looked around her at her environment. "I'm at a library Mayorzilla. What do you think I'm doing? I'm reading."

Regina rolled her eyes. "That sarcasm is viewed as disrespect in my eyes."

Emma scoffed. "You wanna know what's viewed as disrespect in _my_ eyes, Madam Mayor?" She started, but not too loudly since they were in a library. "Calling a seven year old crazy, simply because she has an active imagination. Then going to the therapist- that you forced her into seeing- and threatening him, with his job, to tell her that he'd lock her up."

"Did you really do that?" She heard DJ say, he sounded so hurt. "How could you do that?" She reached up to touch his face, but he pushed it away. "You promised. You promised to stop acting like this. Why can't you just keep a promise? For once mom." He stormed out.

Emma was confused, but she went after him. "DJ! DJ! Wait." He obliged. "I'm sorry. I wouldn't have said all that if I'd known she was your mom." She swore.

"It's fine. I'm glad I know I guess, I was just hoping..." He trailed off.

Emma nodded, understanding. "You should try talking to her."

"You think that? Even after everything she did to your sister?" He questioned skeptically.

She nodded. "As much as _I_ don't like Regina, she's still your mom." She looked at her watch. "Look, I gotta go. But, see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Thanks Emma. Bye."

XXX

Emma was eating dinner with her sister and father at home, later that night. "Dad, is it okay if I hang out with some friends after school tomorrow?"

"Who are they?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "DJ, Nick, and Ava. Nick and Ava are Hansel and Gretel."She sighed. "And DJ, is uh… Regina's son." She saw her father's eyes widen. "Relax dad. He's nothing like her. They actually got in a fight today, because of how she's been acting since we got to town." She said, her eyes trailing to the seven year old, too focused on her food to realize they were talking about her.

"A fight?"

She sighed. "A yelling match. He sounded more betrayed than anything. He and Gretel are a thing apparently."

"DJ's always been really nice to me." Angel piped up. "He's a lot nicer than his mom."

David was so confused. "I didn't even know she had a son."

"She does! It talks about it in the book!"

Angel jumped out of her seat, ready to go get the storybook out of her room. "Woah, woah kiddo. Finish your food first, alright?" She merely nodded.

"Anyways. Can I? It'll just be Granny's?"

He sighed. "Fine. Just know, Ruby will be keeping an eye on you."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Really dad? I'm seventeen, not seven. I don't need a babysitter."

"Hey! I don't need a babysitter either!"

David gave her a pointed look. "I think the mine incident would suggest otherwise."

XXX

Emma was sitting with her friends at Granny's the next day, when Regina walked in. "And I'm leaving." DJ immediately said.

"Talk go that well?" Emma questioned.

He gave her a quick smile, kissed Ava goodbye and was on his way out of the door. "DJ, wait." She heard his mother try, but he ignored her and pushed his way past her and out of the diner. Which only pissed off Regina more than she had already been. She went over to the table. "This is your fault!" She barked at Emma. "If you'd have just kept that mouth of yours shut."

"I apologised! I didn't know you were his mom! I wouldn't have- you know what Regina? Just… leave me alone."

Regina scoffed. "Apologised? You did no such thing to me!"

"I don't need to apologise to you. I apologized to him. After the way you made my sister feel the way she did, I don't owe you any type of apology."

"You know, I was gonna drop this, but now? No." She pulled a flyer out of her purse and set it in front of her. "At least I don't go around seeing known thieves. Your father did a great job in that department."

"He is a great father!" She snapped.

Regina laughed darkly. "Yeah. One that left you to the horrible devices of the foster system for 10 years. History does repeat itself, doesn't it." She taunted, then left.

Emma stared at the poster in front of her, dumbfounded, with tears in her eyes. "Emma?" Her head snapped up from the flyer, after hearing Nick's voice. "Are you okay?"

"What?" She quickly wiped her tears away. "I'm fine." She stood up. "I… I have to go." And with that, she ran out the doors, not seeing Mary Margaret leave right after. No doubt, following her.

"What just happened?" Ruby asked coming over. "What exactly did she say to Emma?"

They both looked up to her. "Something about a boyfriend being a thief and her dad leaving her in foster care for 10 years."

"I'm really starting to hate her." Ruby groaned. "I'll call her father."

XXX

There was so much going through Emma's mind. So many memories. Some from the first 10 years of her life. Others from this past year. Neal is a wanted thief? Son of a bitch probably sold the watches, then fled to Canada. She deserved a damn explanation.

Suddenly she couldn't breath, of course, the day she forgets her inhaler, then she feels a hand on her shoulder, she spins around to the Miss Blanchard, her _mother_ , looking extremely worried. She didn't have time for this. She needed the thoughts to go away.

It took Mary Margaret a minute to realize what was going on. "Emma. I need you to breathe. Can you do that for me?" Emma shook her head. She wasn't being stubborn, the couldn't breath. "Okay. Where's your inhaler?"

"... forgot…" She gasped out, falling to the ground.

Mary Margaret wasn't sure what it was, but she felt a rush of protectiveness rush over her. "Emma!" The teenage girl didn't respond, she'd fallen unconscious. "Okay. I can do this." She threw Emma's arm over her shoulder. They were the at the docs and, somehow, the only ones there. Mary Margaret left the docs with Emma over her shoulders. "Help! Help!"

"Mary Margaret!" She heard a voice come from behind her.

She spun around. "David! We have to get her to the hospital" He lifted Emma up into his arms and they ran to the hospital.

David was pacing in the waiting room of the hospital, he had left Angel with Ruby when he showed up at Granny's after the frantic call he'd received from her.

"I told her to keep it on her at all times!" He shouted in frustration.

Mary Margaret placed her hand on David's forearm. "David. I know you're worried, but you need to calm down."

"I'm sorry." If he wasn't pissed at Regina before, he definitely was now. "I… can you stay here? I need to go have a chat with our lovely mayor."

"I will, but David-"

He kissed her forehead. "Thanks Mare." And with that he was gone and on his way to see the mayor. He ran into her in her front yard. "Regina!"

"Ah! If it isn't father of the year."

He stepped closer to her. "Enough Regina! You need to leave my children alone!"

"Did you and your precious daughter have a fight?" She taunted him, not realizing her son was eavesdropping on them from inside.

David looked at her as if she was stupid. Did she really not know? "Emma's in the hospital!" He snapped, she went pale. "Yeah! All that research you did on my daughter and you didn't see that she was asthmatic? If she gets too upset, or too overwhelmed, or, hell, even too excited, she runs the risk of having an asthma attack! And guess what Regina! She forgot her inhaler today!"

Regina felt… guilty? She shook it off quickly though. "Well perhaps, she should stay out of mine and my sons relationship!"

"Mom! Enough!" DJ yelled coming outside. "What is _so_ wrong with you that you can't just leave someone be! She didn't interfere with our relationship mom that was you! She's the one that encouraged me to try and make up with you!"

"DJ..."

He shook his head. "Stop mom! I don't want to hear it." He stormed off calling his friends to see if they knew about Emma.

XXX

She woke up and she felt something on her face, she tried taking it off, but it wouldn't budge.  
"Shh, you gotta keep it on princess."

What was going on? Where was she? She was scared. Really scared. She started whimpering in her sleep. She wanted her dad.

She felt herself being enveloped into her fathers strong arms. "You're okay baby. Daddy's here. Go back to sleep."

She'd come to the conclusion that he was lying in her bed. "What happened?" She whispered.

She heard him let out a sigh of relief. "You had an asthma attack. It was really bad princess." She heard his voice cracking. "You scared me Emma. You really scared me. I'm so glad you were with Snow."

"I'm sorry." She took off the mask before her dad could stop her. "I hate those things." She looked around the room. "Where's Angel?"

David kissed her head. "She's with Red… Ruby, I mean. Your friends are in the waiting room, if you want to see them. Mary Margaret's here too."

"Yeah. They can all come in. You can go ahead and pick Angel up too. I'll be fine."

 _ **Please Review...**_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Emma was released from the hospital a few days later. Her and Mary Margaret have gotten really close over the past few days, along with Angel and Mary Margaret.

She couldn't quite place it, but there was just something about the two sisters that made Mary Margaret's heart flutter.

She invited them over for dinner about a week after Emma's hospital release, because David was working a double shift at the station.

After dinner, she had asked Emma a question about her and Angel's mother, and Emma just froze. "I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that."

"She sacrificed herself, so my dad could find me and raise me. That's all." She shrugged. "But I'm glad though. That she didn't come, I mean. If she had," she looked over at her younger sister. "I'd have never found out about Angel."

"Must still hurt though." She guessed.

Emma shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I'll help with dishes, then Ang and I will head home." She quickly changed the subject, which didn't go unnoticed by her seven year old sister, let alone Mary Margaret, but she let it go.

"I don't wanna go home yet. Can we wait until David gets back?" Emma glared at her, which she returned with a not-so-innocent, innocent smile.

She's heard that little siblings were pains from her friends, but geez. "I guess I can call dad and ask him to pick us up after work. Be right back." Emma pulled out her phone and stepped into the hall to call her father, Angel followed behind.

" _Em? Is everything okay?"_

 _She sighed. "Yeah. Do you think you can pick us up after work."_

" _Emma, you do realize that the night shift isn't over until 3am? I won't be able to pick you up. I mean, if you guys want and if it's okay with her, you guys could stay the night."_

" _Seriously?" Emma groaned. "Spend the night?"_

Angel smiled. "Spend the night? Really? We can?"

 _Emma looked at her sister with wide eyes. Oh my God, she was nosy. She ignored her and went back to talking to her father. "Dad. Don't you realize how awkward that'll be?"_

" _Yes Emma. I do. I know it's gotta be tough, but-" She ended the call, cutting him off._

Angel looked up at Emma with puppy dog eyes. "Please, please, please Emma!"

"Fine." She grumbled. "If Mary Margaret says yes." She looked down at her phone and ignored the incoming call.

Angel ran in the house. "Mary! Mary! Our dad says if you say yes, we can stay the night! Can we? Can we?"

Mary Margaret looked over at Emma to gauge her emotions and Emma plastered on a fake smile. It's not that she doesn't love Mary Margaret, her mother. It was just that it's awkward. She wants to get to know her, it just doesn't feel right. She's her bleek teacher, Mary Margaret, not her fierce mother, Snow White.

"Sure. If you guys want, you can."

Emma smiled weakly. "Come on kid, let's get you ready for bed." She declined another phone call.

"I'm not tired Emma." Angel whined.

She looked up at her teacher, ignoring her sister's whining. "Do you have any small shirt or something for her?" Mary Margaret went in her bedroom and came back a few seconds later with a shirt. "It'll be big on her, but will it work?" Emma nodded and looked down at her sister. "You have a bedtime for a reason kid, go put this on." She felt her phone vibrating again and internally groaned, then pulled it out of her pocket and shut it off.

"There's a loft upstairs, there are two beds, a single and a double." Emma nodded. "I can make us some cocoa, while you put her to bed."

"Thanks Mary Margaret."

When Angel came out of the bathroom, she ran up to Mary Margaret and hugged her. "I've never had a real sleepover before. Thank you Mary Margaret."

She returned the hug gladly. "I'm glad I could help sweetheart. Goodnight." Emma couldn't help but feel jealous of how easily Angel was bonding with Mary Margaret.

After putting her little sister to bed she came downstairs and was met with a mug of hot cocoa with cinnamon. "Thanks Mare."

"You okay? You've seemed off since I brought up your mother." Emma didn't say anything. All of this just makes her want to cry. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"It's fine."

Just as Mary Margaret was about to respond, her phone rang. "Hello. David, hey. Yeah, she's on the couch." Emma rolled her eyes. "It's your dad."

She got off the couch and went over to the phone. "Hey dad. What's up? What? No." She heard a knock on the door, but ignored it to listen to her father. "My phone died." She lied, knowing full well that her phone was fully charged, but powered off in her pocket. She looked up and saw that someone was there and he gave her a bad feeling. A really bad feeling. "Um dad… cobra." She ended the call. 'Cobra' is a panic word that her and her father had come up with when she was about 12.

After she put the phone down, the suspicious man pulled out a gun and pointed the gun at Mary Margaret to make sure Emma wouldn't try anything. She raised her hands in the air, but her eyes kept darting to the staircase.

"We're going."

Mary Margaret stepped in front of Emma. "L-let her grab her in-inhaler, sh-she's asthmatic."

He nodded and Emma grabbed her inhaler off the table. "What do you want?"

"I want you to leave with me. Let's go." She's not sure when it happened, but at some point, her and her mother linked hands. They got to Mary Margaret's VW. "You're driving, Miss Blanchard." He looked at the teenager. "You're in back with me." They both nodded shakily and got in the car. He had the gun pointed at the back of Mary Margaret's head and had his hand gripped tightly around the back of Emma's neck. She started digging in her pocket. "Hey! Hey! What are you doing?"

"Y-you know I'm asthmatic jack-jackass."

Jefferson merely nodded. "Well hurry it up." He turned away from Emma. "Turn here. Then go straight and we'll have arrived."

Mary Margaret could hear Emma's uneven breaths. "Emma. Deep, even breaths. Please sweetie." She saw Emma nod through the rearview mirror and heard her breaths even out. "Good girl."

"We're here." He said. "Everyone out."

XXX

When David heard her say it, his heart nearly stopped. He dropped the phone when he heard it and jumped up in a panic, grabbing his gun from the desk drawer to holster it and sprinting to Mary Margaret's house.

When he got there, the door was cracked open, he started doing a thorough check of the house and it killed him that there was no one on the first floor. He made his way upstairs, praying that they were all up in the loft hiding. He saw a sleeping Angel, but no sign of Emma or Mary Margaret. "Em. Mare. Are you in here? Emma? Mary?" His voice woke up his daughter and he holstered his weapon.

"David?" He made his way over to his daughter and pulled her into his arms rocking her, fighting the tears that were brimming in his eyes. "What's wrong David?"

"Angel." He breathed out. "I'm going to take you to the DIner. Ruby or Granny will watch you."

She shook her head. "What's going on David?" She demanded. "Where's Emmy and Mary?"

"They… they're not here Angel. I don't… I don't know where they're at." He could see that his little girl was on the verge of tears, so he pulled her closer. "I'm gonna find them though. It's my job. I find people. And as you very well know, they are very important to me." He picked her up and they rushed over to the diner.

"Hello David." Granny greeted, then noticed his sour expression. "What's happened?"

He sat Angel down in a nearby booth. "Stay right here." He instructed, then made his way back over to the owner of the diner. "Mary Margaret and Emma are missing."

Just as he said such, Ruby came out of the kitchen. "What?!" Her eyes were widened and full of extreme panic. "Then what are we doing standing here? Let's go!"

He looked to Granny for help, but she shook her head. "Once she's made up her mind… I'll watch the little one. Go."

David nodded and made his way to to his youngest daughter. "Hey there little Angel." He whispered to her, as calmly as he could manage. "Ruby and I are gonna go look for Em and Mare. You be good for Granny, alright?"

"I wanna come." She all but pouted. "I wanna help save them."

David sighed. "That's not possible. I'll keep you updated, how 'bout that?" She shrugged, defeated, knowing that it was non-negotiable. He kissed her head. "I love you little Angel." He turned around to the woman that had grown as a little sister, in both worlds, to him. "Come on Rubes."

XXX

Emma and Mary Margaret were sitting in a dark room, holding hands, not daring to let go. "My dad knows something's wrong." Emma assured her.

"How?"

Emma couldn't help but smile to herself. "At the time, I thought it was dumb. I thought that nothing like this could ever happen, but he insisted it." She sighed. "We came up with a code word."

"Code word?"

Emma nodded. "For danger. It's cobra. Cobra's our code word for danger. I came up with it, I was so unbelievably proud of myself, so was my dad."

"But… he didn't do anything suspicious until you ended the phone call."

She shrugged. "When I saw the man invite himself inside, I had a feeling. A very bad feeling. I only had one shot, so when I ended the call, I whispered 'cobra', so he knows." Emma leaned her head on Mary's shoulder. "Mare?"

"What is it sweetie?"

Emma let out an uneven breath. "I'm scared."

Mary Margaret laid her head on top of Emma's. "Me too sweetheart. But we have to believe, to have hope that your father will find us."

"How sweet!" They heard the man say from the doorway, they both jumped, and Emma immediately grabbed her inhaler and took a few puffs. "Scare you that bad huh?" Emma ignored him. "Get up." He said, pointing the gun at they. They both obliged. "You," he pointed the gun a Mary Margaret, "get in that chair, and you," he pointed the gun at Emma, "Tie her up." He instructed.

"What?"

He smiled like a madman. "I believe you heard me, _princess._ "

Emma shook her head, but before the madman could respond, Mary Margaret cut in. "Do it Emma." She could tell the Emma was about to cry. "I need you to listen to him Em." She spoke softly. "Now, tie me up." It was obvious how reluctant Emma was. " _Now,_ Emma." She sighed and obliged.

"Come with me." The man said, after Emma finished tying Mary Margaret up.

Mary Margaret's eyes went wide with panic. "No! Leave her alone!" She insisted. "Just… take me! Not her!"

The man laughed maniacally. "Well I can't very well do that! You're not the savior!"

Emma's eyes went wide, then turned to Mary Margaret. "I-I'll be f-fine." Just then, the man grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room. When she was sat in a chair in the other room, she remembered that she had her phone in her pocket. "What do you want?"

"I want you to make a hat."

Emma looked around the room and saw what had to be at least 100 hats. "Don't have enough?"

"Well if they worked, we wouldn't be here right now!" He snapped, then sat down. "Make a hat and make it work."

"I don't-"

He rolled his eyes. "You have magic. You can do it! You have to."

Emma looked around and saw hats and a teacup… "The hats, the tea, acting like a psycho, you're the mad hatter?"

"So, you do know of the curse! Then you can make it work!"

Emma shook her head. "Don't you get it Mr… Hatter? This is a land _without_ magic. And even if we were back in the Enchanted Forest, I still wouldn't have magic!"

He laughed darky and leaned forward pointing the gun at her chest. "You and dear old mom, aren't leaving here until you get it to work."

"Then what?"

He sighed. "Then I go home." He backed away, but kept the gun pointed in Emma's direction.

Emma worked on the hat, but after failing at making three hats working she sighed. "I can't make it work. I just can't. What you're asking me is impossible."

"No! It can't! I need her back!" He looked through a telescope. "Come take a look."

Emma obliged after taking a few puffs from her inhaler. She looked through the telescope and saw none other that her sister's best friend. "Paige?"

"That's not her name! It's Grace! My Gracie. I need to take her home! I miss her." He whispered the last part.

Emma sighed. "I know what it's like to be separated from someone you love."

"Yeah. You do, don't you."

She glanced back at him. "It can make you feel like you're losing your mind."

"But I'm not. Will you please make the hat? Will you help me now?"

Emma leaned back over and looked through the telescope. "I can try." As Jefferson turned around to pick a hat up off the table, Emma picked the telescope up and hit him with it, knocking him out. "Bloody madman!" She ran to where Mary was. "It's okay. We're getting out of here." She was too busy loosening her mother's restraints to hear the door open.

"Emma! Look out!" She was too late. Emma was knocked unconscious.

The madman was getting irritated. "Maybe that'll give her some time to rethink what happened."

Mary Margaret was able to get free of her restraints after Emma loosened them, she sat on the floor and laid Emma's head in her lap, stroking her hair.

XXX

It had been two hours and there was no sign of Emma or Mary, they had no idea who had taken them, it was nearing 10pm, but Emma's friends refused to go home until they were found. "Kids, I appreciate that you want to find Emma, but it's getting late."

"All do respect Mr Nolan, I'm not going anywhere until we find her!" Nick said. Out of all the kids, he was the most adamant.

David sighed. "Once it hits curfew, I'll have no choice, but to send you home. Understood?"

"Yes Sir." They all spoke in unison.

David was starting to get pretty irritable. Graham kept insisting that he go home. And he had just gotten a call from Granny saying that everytime Angel dozes off, she has bad dreams about Mary and Emma being hurt. He just wanted his little girl and his wife back, even if Snow didn't know her true identity.

Ruby came up to him. "David. I have this feeling I can't shake."

David furrowed his eyebrows. "What is it Rubes?"

She sighed. "It's gonna sound crazy." David nodded, indicating for her to continue. "I feel… drawn to the woods. I don't understand it. It just-"

David placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her rambling. "I trust your instincts Ruby."

XXX

Her head hurt. Who was touching her hair? Where was she? What the hell? How does she keep finding herself in these situations? She started groaning, then she felt her inhaler being pressed up against her mouth.

"Breathe in, Emma." She heard, and obliged. "There we go. A few more." Her eyes fluttered open. "Hey sweetie. How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a truck." She murmured, then it all came back, they were kidnapped by the freaking mad hatter. She sat up, remembering her phone was in her pocket. "Where is he?"

"Slow down Emma, you might have a concussion." She warned her. "He left the room about half an hour ago. Why Emma?" She pulled the phone out of her pocket. "I thought your phone was dead?"

Emma brought her hand up to the back of her head, where she was hit. She bit her lip, she was bleeding… a lot. Oh well, that can wait. "I lied. I shut my phone off, I was ignoring his phone calls." She admitted. "After I hung up on him… in the middle of a conversation." She punched in his number. "But that's a conversation for later." She hit the call button and pulled the phone up to her ear.

" _Whoever this is, I'm busy. I'll get back to you later."_

 _Emma smiled at his voice. "Dad." She whispered. "Please don't hang up."_

" _Emma?! Is that you princess? Is it really you baby?"_

" _It's me daddy. Some psycho took me and Mary. He has a gun. Dad. You have to find us."_

 _She could hear the choked sob on the other end of the line. "Do you know where you're at?"_

" _Some mansion in the woods. He made Mary drive us here. I have my inhaler dad, but I've used it so much, I'm not sure how much I have left."_

" _Emma, are you hurt at all?"_

 _She bit her lip. "No, I'm fine dad."_

Much to Emma's demise, Mary Margaret noticed the blood. "Oh my God Emma. Is that blood?"

Crap. "No… Uh, Mary, can you listen for Mr Crazy guy? Tell me when he's coming?"

Mary Margaret sighed. She knew Emma was lying, but they needed to know when he was coming.

" _Are you guys okay, really okay Emma?"_

 _She couldn't hold it in anymore, she started crying. "I'm scared. He keeps getting angry dad."_

"Emma." Mary Margaret whispered. "He's coming."

" _I have to go dad." Before he could respond, she turned her phone off and put it in her pocket._

She crawled over to Mary Margaret and held her hand. "He'll find us."

The mad hatter walked into the room. "Look who's finally awake! Did you enjoy your little nap your highness?"

"Cut it with the 'your highness' crap! Just let us go!" She begged, hysterically. Mary Margaret grabbed her inhaler off the ground and handed it to Emma. She tried taking a few puffs, but it wouldn't work. "Oh no, that's bad." She shook the inhaler and tried again, but it wouldn't work, she was starting to panic.

 _ **TBC**_

 _ **Please Review...**_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The madman rushed in the other room to grab a paper bag and tossed it to them. "I'm not doing this because I'm some sort of monster, you know. I'm just a father, and I need her help so Gracie can remember me. I just need her help." He said while Mary held the bag up to Emma's face to help her breathing. "The name's Jefferson Matter, by the way."

"I want my dad." She whimpered. "Angel's probably so scared and… and… and," She kept gasping for air.

Mary Margaret pulled her close and started rocking her back and forth. "Shh, it's all going to be okay. Stay calm sweetie. I've got you." She looked up at the madman- Jefferson. "You need to leave the room." She instructed. "You're her trigger, you're stressing her out. Leave the room." He obliged and she turned her attention back to Emma. "Deep, even breaths. Sit up. Deep even breaths." She said, while subtly checking the wound on her head.

Slowly the asthma attack subsided. Emma's breathing was more even and calm. "I want to go home. I miss my dad and my sister." After a few minutes of silence, she looked up at Mary. "You know, I've found myself getting jealous of Angel sometimes."

"What?"

Emma smiled weakly. "My dad found me ay 10, he found out about her at 7. She's had a tough life, yeah, but the first 10 years of my life were absolute hell. I'm also quite jealous that she doesn't understand the situation with our mother."

"You said she sacrificed herself? Did she die?"

Emma nodded. Okay, maybe she didn't die, but she couldn't very well say that her mother is under a curse. "She could've come with my dad. But she chose not to, to protect us. I understand that, I do. But it still hurts sometimes. That she chose not to come with. She chose..."

"Death over you?" Emma responded by lying her head on Mary's shoulder, not understanding why Mary was checking the back of her head again.

They heard a sigh from the doorway. "It wasn't like that Emma."

XXX

Once she said "some mansion in the woods", he knew exactly what she was talking about. It's the residence of Jefferson Matters. Once the line was cut off, he immediately took off in the direction of the mansion. He didn't bother alerting anyone, he just took off. He showed up at the mansion, Ruby hot on his heels. "David. Slow down. What's going on?" She asked when they were standing in a bush behind said mansion.

"Emma called. They're here. He has a gun. She's also running low on her medicine." He looked over at her. "She's terrified Ruby."

Ruby nodded. "Let's go then."

He grabbed her arm. "He's armed Ruby. You're not going in there. I'm going in alone. Call Graham. Tell him where we are. Wait outside Ruby." David ran in the house, gun in hand.

Ruby did call Graham, of course, and explained everything to him, but she didn't wait outside. Not when her best friend and a young girl that she's grown quite close to, were in danger.

After leaving Ruby, he ran inside. He decided a quiet entry was best under the circumstances. He was walking down a hallway, when he heard voices. It was Emma. She was referring to her mother as dead… to her mother? She thinks Snow chose being cursed over her. He sighed. "It wasn't like that Emma." He whispered, he didn't even think they heard, honestly, but he was proven wrong.

Both their heads snapped up. Emma's eyes were wide and full of regret. "Dad..."

"It's alright Emma. I need you guys to stay here. Stay here." He repeated. "No matter what you hear. You both stay here. Understood?"

They both nodded, but before he could close the door, Emma was standing up gripping onto his forearm. Tightly, part because she was extremely dizzy, but mostly because she was terrified of her father getting hurt. "Please be careful daddy. He has a gun."

He kissed her forehead. "Don't worry about me princess. I'll be just fine." He promised. "Now, go set next to Mary and _stay put._ " He closed the door and collided with Ruby, who was holding a- is that a lamp?-. "Damn it Rubes." He hissed. "I told you to stay outside? And what the hell's a lamp… nevermind. He's in here, come on." He lead her to the room where he had just left his wife and daughter. He pushed her in and locked the door from the outside. He was definitely gonna pay for that later. No doubt.

Ruby was shocked and pissed. "David." She hissed through the door. "Asshole." She muttered to herself, then turned around with wide eyes after seeing Emma and Mary. "Oh my God." She went over to them and pulled them into a hug. "You guys are okay."

Emma smirked. "You just called my dad an asshole."

"Emma." Mary scolded. "Language." Emma rolled her eyes.

"He locked us in." Ruby defended. "I just call it how it is."

XXX

After David locked Ruby in the room with Emma and Mary he made his way down the hall and into a room full of hats and a man was sitting in a spinning chair with is head in his hands. David almost felt for the man. Almost.

"Jefferson Matter. Hands in the air."

The man pointed a gun at David immediately. Once he saw the man's face, he recognized him. "Your highness. I… you have to understand-"

"Hatter, I need you to lower your weapon." He told the man. "I understand you must miss Grace dearly, but you have to remain strong."

Jefferson shook his head. "No! You don't understand! I've been waiting and waiting, but nothing! I've lost my patience David! Your daughter needs to make it work! I've been watching her and she's making no progress! I just-"

"What the hell did you just say?" He stepped closer. "You've been watching my seventeen year old daughter?!" He saw Jefferson nervously glance at the telescope. "Show me!"

The madman gave up, dropping his weapon and making his way over to the telescope, it was set to three separate locations. Two for Emma and one for Grace. One pointed into Emma's window and another pointed into a window at the library where Emma always sits.

"Her bedroom, Hatter?! My teenage daughter's bedroom?!"

Jefferson made a face of disgust. "God. I wouldn't watch her like _that._ I just need her to make the God forsaken hat, work!"

David did the only thing that any father would do, he punched Jefferson square in the jaw… multiple times. "Jefferson Matter, you're under arrest for the kidnapping of Emma Nolan and Mary Margaret Blanchard and for unlawful surveillance of a minor." He placed the cuffs on Jefferson.

"David. You don't-"

He tightened the cuffs. "If I were you. I'd shut the hell up."

"David!" They heard Graham yell from downstairs. "David! You here?"

"Up here Graham!" He responded. "Third door on the left!"

Seconds later, Graham was standing in front of them, taking in Jefferson's bruised jaw and David's bloody and bruised hand. "I'm gonna take him to the cruiser. Go check on your daughter David." He told them, ignoring the obvious injuries.

David nodded and made his way to the room down the hall to see his family. He unlocked the door and was hit with an immense amount of worry. His daughter was lying in the ground, her head resting on Mary's lap and noticed Ruby holding something against the back of her head. "What happened?"

His wife looked up at him. "Half an hour before she called you, the lunatic knocked her out, she woke up not even two minutes before she called you. We should get her to the hospital."

XXX

"She has a grade 2 concussion. She's going to have some pretty bad headaches over the next few days, a week at most. I recommend that she refrains from going about her normal activities for another 7-10 days, at least."

David nodded. "Thank you Whale. I appreciate it." He said genuinely. "Can I go see her?"

"Yeah, she's in room 28B."

David made his way to the room and found his daughter sleeping. He sat next her bedside, resting his hand on her forehead and burying his face in the blankets. "For the love of God, Emma. You have to stop scaring me like this." He felt her stirring in her sleep. "Shh. Go back to sleep princess. You need it."

"So do you." Mary said from the doorway. "We all need sleep, and lots of it." She commented with bandages in her hand.

"What are those for?" She nodded towards his hand. "Oh… that."

She came over and began cleaning the cuts on his knuckles. "What made you snap?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "I've learned that you always manage to keep your cool, no matter what buttons someone pushes. So he must've said or done something- other than this, of course- to make you… rearrange his face."

He looked up at her with a grim expression. "He's been watching her Mare."

"What?"

He nodded. "Yeah. He had a telescope pointed at a window in her bedroom and a window at the library that gives a spot on view of Emma's hang out table."

"Oh my God."

Emma's eyes blinked open. "Dad? Dad, are you here?"

"I'm right here baby." He squeezed her hand. "I'm right here." He kissed her forehead. "I've got you." He pulled her into an embrace, which she melted into.

"Dad." Her arms were wrapped around him. "I missed you dad." She buried her face in his chest. "Where is Angel?"

He kissed the top of her head. "She's at Granny's."

"She's probably terrified. I wanna see her." She told him, lifting her head to make eye contact with her father.

He sighed. "There's no way I'm leaving you alone. Ever again." He promised.

"I can uh… stay with her. If you'd like? While you go get Angel."

Father and daughter both jumped, David, because he was so caught up in his daughter waking up that he somehow forgot she was in the room. Emma, because she never even knew she was in the room in the first place.

"You sure?" Mary Margaret nodded. "What about you Em? You okay with me going to get your sister and Mary staying with you?" Emma nodded as well. He sighed. "I'll be back in 10 minutes. 15, tops." He promised, when he left.

"You gave us all quite a scare with that concussion of yours." Mary told her, pulling up a chair to Emma's bedside.

Emma smiled weakly. "Sorry?" She half-heartedly joked. "I'm not sure how, but I keep finding myself in these situations." Mary raised an eyebrow at Emma. "Danger." She clarified.

Mary Margaret chuckled. "Yes! But we love you all the same for it." She promised. Emma gave her a teary-eyed smile. "What is it honey?"

"You said you love me." It was barely above a whisper.

Mary Margaret mirrored her smile and got in the bed with her, hugging her tightly. "Of course I love you sweetheart." Emma gladly returned the hug. For the first time, she felt as though she was hugging her _mother,_ not her teacher. The hug was so tender, so full of love. Mary placed a soft kiss to the top of Emma's head. "I really do love you Emma." A bright light made its way all throughout Storybrooke and suddenly Mary was hit with a mountain of memories.

 _Snow White held up the beautiful ring on her right hand. That's when she knew it. She longed for love, for marriage. She couldn't fall for this man. Could she? Oh, but she was._

" _You're gonna walk down that hallway Snow White. You're gonna sneak in, and tell him you received his letter. You're gonna tell him why your here." The king told her, causing her great confusion. "That you don't love him. It'll break his heart. That'll cure him." He finished. "Or you'll kill me." She realized. He shook his head with a taunting grin on his face. "Oh no. I'll kill_ him _." She heard almost nothing after she heard those words. Would he really kill his own son? "You would do that to your own son?" The king got in her face. "He is not my son." He spat._

" _Now that I know that you love me too-" She abruptly cut him. "-I don't." He looked so completely heartbroken. "What?" He asked. "Love you, I don't. I'm sorry. You said that I would always be in your heart. That is too cruel a fate. Go live your life. Live it without me. Because there is no place for us together." She saw a tear slip down his face. "Fill your heart with someone else, someone that can love you the way I never have. The way I never will." She finished, exiting the room with silent sobs racking her body._

 _She was just about to tell Charming of the potion that George had tricked her into taking, when the pendant over her belly began to move. She looked down and a smile graced her lips. "Charming. We're going to have a child." She was shocked. "What?" She laughed, with so much joy. "We're going to have a child." He leaned in. "Is there… something I need to know?" He questioned cautiously. "I mean someday." He smiled at her. "Well, of course we are. Well, what does it say it's gonna be? It's gonna be a boy right? I can never remember which direction means what." She took the pendant from his hands and smiled at him. "It's a surprise."_

" _I do." Charming told the bishop, staring straight into Snow's eyes. "And do you, Snow White, promise to take this man to be your husband and love him for all of eternity?" Snow was staring into David's eyes. "I do." The bishop smiled. "I now pronounce you, husband, and wife." The entire room broke into an applause._

" _Her name is Emma." She told the Dark One, who was demanding the name of the savior._

 _Snow knew what had to be done, it just broke her heart. "Take the baby to the wardrobe." David looked at her as if she'd grown two heads. "Are you out of your mind?" Snow shook her head. "No. It's the only way to save her." David continued to shake his head. "You don't know what you're talking about." He insisted. "No, I do. We have to believe that she'll come back to us. We have to give her, her best chance." She saw it in David's eyes. He knew she was right. She looked down at her daughter. "Goodbye Emma." And with that her husband and daughter were gone._

"Emma." She breathed out. "Oh my God. Emma, you did it!"

Her daughter raised an eyebrow at her. "I did what, exactly?"

Snow laughed. "You broke the curse, my beautiful, beautiful girl."

Emma leapt into her arms, sobbing. "I've wanted this. I've wanted to be able to do this for so long." She sobbed. "Mom."

 _ **Please Review...**_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

David and Angel walked in Emma's room, only to see Emma sobbing into Mary Margaret's shirt. "What's going on in here?" He asked, holding his youngest daughter's hand.

She looked over at him. "Charming." Mary Margaret- no, Snow breathed out.

"Snow?"

She merely nodded, still stroking Emma's hair. "I told… or Mary Margaret told Emma that she loves her, then kissed the top of her head. Then I had.. we had all my memories."

David looked down at Angel. "Snow. I want you to meet… our daughter. Long-story-short, Regina gave birth to our second child while you were unconscious."

Snow gestured for the little girl to climb on on the hospital bed with them, Angel obliged. "It's nice to formally meet you Angel."

"You too." She shook her older sister. "Emma. Emmy?" Emma turned around and pulled her sister into a hug. "I was so, so scared Emmy." Angel cried, her arms looped around Emma's neck, never wanting to let go. "When dad woke me up, he said that someone took you and our mom. He didn't know who Emmy."

"Shh. Shh. We're okay Ang. I'm okay. Mom's okay too." Emma broke the hug. "There's a bright side. A good side to all this." Angel looked at her as if she'd grown another head. "Dad messed up his face. Big time."

"How did you-?" David started from the doorway.

Emma wanted to roll her eyes, but knew it'd only worsen her head. "Your hand dad. I saw it earlier. It's pretty hard to miss."

After a few minutes of silence, Angel sat up. "I'm hungry dad."

David blinked in surprise, then brought himself back to reality. "Right! Uh, Granny said that you wouldn't eat? What's that about?" She shrugged. "Alright princess. Let's get you to the vending-"

"-cafeteria." Snow finished with a smile.

David chuckled. "Cafeteria. Right. Where they supply vegetables." He looked to his older daughter. "What do you want me to grab you Em?"

"I'm not really hungry dad. Maybe later?" He sighed, but nodded. "But, you know what I want, more than anything?" He raised an eyebrow at his daughter. "To go home. To my nice comfy bed, my non-hospital bed. To my nice little TV and DVD player in my room. To where we keep the ice-cream."

"Not right now kiddo. Maybe for dinner."

Emma furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Dinner? What time is it?"

"About 5:30am."

Emma sighed as David left the room. "I really hate hospitals." She grumbled to herself. "What's gonna happen to DJ? What about Grace?"  
"I really don't know Emma. All I know it that Regina has to be put in prison."

Emma nodded. "I know she does. As does Jefferson. It's just not fair to DJ and Grace. Especially Grace, she's only seven, just like Angel is. I mean, DJ's almost 18, but it still isn't fair." They fell into a companionable silence.

Snow was absentmindedly stroking her hair. "Why do you hate hospitals so much sweetheart?"

"It's just… a few years ago, dad was in the hospital. He'd gotten injured on-the-job. He got shot. He nearly died. Hospital's just make me really antsy."

That was the first time she's heard about this. "He what?!"

 _Crap._ "Oh… he didn't tell you… er Mary Margaret about that?" She questioned. "Well, dad's a cop. Things like that are bound to happen. It was just frightening for me." As if on cue, David and Angel walked in the room, the latter looking slightly pouty. Emma looked at him and mouthed to him. _Sorry._

"When were you planning on telling me about-" she looked down at Angel. "-the work incident that happened to you?"

David turned to his daughter. "You _told_ on me?"

"Ut uh. Me and you. Hallway now." Snow told him.

They both left the room and Emma turned to her pouty sister. "What's go you so down?" She asked, lifting her onto the bed.

"Dad made me get _carrotsticks._ " She said with so much disgust that Emma couldn't help but laugh. Angel just glared her sister. "It's not funny!"

Emma's laughter died down "I know Angel. Those things are horrid! I _hate_ carrots." Angel continued glaring at her sister with her adorable seven year old glare. "When we lived in New York and in Boston, I always found a way to get rid of them. In our New York apartment, dad would offer to dogsit the neighbors dog and Braxton would just lay under the table. That's where my carrot stick went in New york, but when we lived in Boston," She paused to allow herself a giggle, noticing Angel was no longer glaring, but now giggling with her. "I would put them under the cushion on my chair until dad was doing dishes, then I'd throw them out when he wasn't looking."

"Hey!" David said from the doorway with a look of part shock, but mostly amusement. Both his children and his wife burst into a fit of giggles. "Ha ha. You guys are all _so_ hilarious."

Emma remained in the hospital for a few more hours, then they all went home, they had Emma on strict bed rest for over a week- even though the doctor said she'd be fine after a few days. Emma and Angel got to experience what it's like to have a family. A whole, complete family.

 _ **AN: Thought some Charming Family Humor was in order...**_

 _Epilogue_

A few years later, Snow ended up pregnant with a baby boy, they named him Leo. They decided against Leopold because everyone- but Snow, of course- thought he would be made fun of.

When Emma came home from college at the age of 22, she became a deputy and shortly after, she started seeing Nicholas- he had grown a strong dislike for his given name, Hansel. When she was 25, he proposed. When she was 33, Graham died from heart disease and her claimed to be too old for the position, she was granted the position as Storybrooke Sheriff.

Ava and DJ got married when they were 21, David and Graham allowed Regina to attend, under close supervision.

When Angel turned 16, she began seeing Pinocchio- August, as he preferred. That lasted 2 years, until they went off to separate colleges at 18. When she returned at 26, she started interning at the hospital, she refused to work with Whale and instead worked under Dr. M.P, that's where she met Rolland, they met briefly when she was growing up, but they didn't talk much, until they were interning together.

David hated that his girls were growing up and he wanted nothing more than to threaten Nicholas and Rolland, but Snow wouldn't let him. She'd insisted that they were grown and they'd be pissed if he did. He did what any father would do. He waited until the girls were having a girls night to do it. They eventually found out and Snow was right, they were pissed. But he decided, it was worth it. He knew Snow would act the same when it came to little Leo.

Growing up, Leo had always been in love with Melody, he'd had a crush on her for as long as he could remember. He was over the moon when she agreed to go out with him. He had insisted that his father throw him a party and allow him to drink beer- which had, obviously, been a definite no. After some coaxing, he got his dad to let him have a _celebratory_ family gathering. He and Melody attended the same college, Leo becoming a lawyer and Melody becoming a teacher. She taught in Boston- where they attended school- for four year, until Leo graduated law school. When they were 26, they moved back home.

Nearly 3 years after DJ's wedding, mostly everyone had forgiven Regina, including the Royal couple, whose lives she ruined the most, they forgave her, they no longer had much reasoning for hating her, they were happy. That's all that matters, right? Shockingly- to everyone- Regina became one of the Charmings' closest friends.

In the end, Snow White's sacrifice, in giving up the chance to raise her eldest daughter, was worth it. Had she not, this may have never happened, they may not have been as happy as they are now.

 _The End_

 _ **I know it's short and all jumbled together, but I hope you enjoyed it.**_

 _ **Please Review...**_


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